Happiness
by DaughterofAthena15
Summary: Annabeth comes back after 5 years. She's a completely different person. Is her change for better or for worse? What will Percy do? Rated T for language and dark themes.
1. Chapter 1

**This is my first ever FanFic! I will post an update when this reaches 10 reviews. That is my goal. Just 10 you guys! Inspire me! Comments/questions/suggestions are greatly appreciated. Positive or negative. But not too negative. More like constructive criticism. Disclaimer: i do not own any PJO characters. Any ways.. Without further ado... **

Happiness

_~Present day~_

**Percy's POV**

I could hear her crying. I hated it when she cried. I've only seen it not even a handful of times. Those were the only times I heard it too. I couldn't stand it, so I finally got off of my bed to see what was wrong. I opened up my door completely stupefied as to what I saw. It was like I was frozen in time because the only thing I could do was stand in my doorway and stare at the sight I saw.

Annabeth was crossing the hall to the bathroom. Nothing unusual about that, right? What wasn't right was that she was holding her arm. Blood was dripping from her arm and into her hand underneath it. She went into the bathroom and washed her arm. At first, I figured she fell down and scraped her arm or something. Boy was I wrong. When she was done washing her arm I shut my door very quickly and quietly so she wouldn't see me. I heard her getting a glass of water. Who knew that that would be the most normal thing to happen..?

She went back into her bedroom. She didn't lock her door, which was a good thing. I walked over to her door. Originally, I was gonna knock on her door. However, I thought twice about it. I flung the door open. I could tell by the look on her face that this was the last thing she expected to happen that night. She could tell by the look on my face that this was the last thing I expected I'd see.

What I saw? Oh, that would be a crying Annabeth, knife in one hand, fist full of pills in another. I would have never thought that Annabeth could ever do this to herself. But I guess a lot changes in five years…

_~Flashback~_

**5 Years Ago**

**Percy's POV**

It was the last day of fifth grade. Annabeth would be leaving for vacation after school today. She told me she was going to San Francisco to see family. Her plane left at five. It was three o'clock and it was now officially summer vacation. She had one hour until she had to leave for the airport. We spent that hour talking and saying our goodbyes.

When the hour was up, her mom came and got her and took her to the airport. I guess she had already packed her bags. Oh, well duh. She's Annabeth. She probably has been preparing and packing for over a week. I watched her get in the cab and I watched until the cab was no longer in sight. But who knew that that would be the last time I would see Annabeth for five years..?


	2. Chapter 2

**Thank you guys so much for all the views and a special shout out to MackMaverick for my first chapters only review. You rock! ****Disclaimer: i do not own any PJO characters.**

Chapter 2

**5 Years Ago**

**Annabeth POV**

It was the day I was leaving for San Francisco. That's where I was going for summer vacation the summer between fifth and sixth grade. It was going to be a long summer. I would miss my best friend, Perseus Jackson, the most. We've been best friends for as long as I can remember. I didn't know what I was going to do without him.

"Hey, Annie!"

I knew immediately who it was. Only one person ever dared to call me that. Ever.

"Don't call me that, Seaweed Brain!" I replied.

"Whatever you say, Wise Girl."

I didn't know how I was going to tell him that I was leaving for the whole summer. It was definitely going to be one of the hardest things ever.

I found it got easier when he asked, "What are your plans for this summer?"

"Oh, well… Uh… I'm going to San Francisco with my mom to visit some relatives."

"Sounds fun! How long will you be gone?"

"Ummm, a couple of weeks." I told him.

Remember when I said it was one of the hardest things ever? To tell him I'd be in San Fran for the whole summer. Well, it was getting even harder. He just stared at my eyes with his lovely, mesmerizing sea green ones. _C'mon Annabeth! You can do it. Just tell him. It's not like it's the hardest thing you'll be doing, _I thought.

"Okay, well actually it's for the whole summer," I told him.

"Oh. Well what time do you have to leave?"

"Four. My plane leaves at five. But we can hang out until I have to go."

So that's what we did. We spent the whole day just hanging out. Saying good bye. We did everything we normally do every day. We played on the playground. We played basketball. We even had a race. 100 metres. We finished at the same time. Other kids said they had never seen anything like it. But Percy and I were just like that. We finished races at the same time. We finished each other's sentences. We did pretty much everything together. We were best friends. Nothing could come between us. Except, apparently, distance.

Then, four o'clock came. Our moms came to get us. We looked at each other with melancholy expressions on our faces. Sadness filled our eyes. I could see a tear escape from Percy's eyes. I'm pretty sure one escaped my eyes too based on the warm liquid I felt streaming down my face.

I got in the cab with my mom and I completely broke down. I was completely irrational and unacceptable. But I tried to reason with myself. I mean, he was my best friend and I was leaving. That's an acceptable excuse to cry, right?

We got to the airport, went through luggage check and headed towards our gate. We had 30 minutes until the plane left. We rushed to our gate, which we hadn't a clue as to its whereabouts. We found our gate. We got there and handed the lady our tickets. As we did, the loud intercom shouted, "Flight 15 to San Francisco leaves in five minutes." We ran through the terminal to our plane and searched frantically for our seats.

My mother and I were never really all that close. I had a feeling we were never gonna be. She spent all her time at work. Whenever she was home she was working. With her, it was work, work, work. All the time. She never took a break except for at meal times and when it was time for bed. She had no regard for emotions either. She knew how distressed and upset I was.

However, she still insisted on asking, "How did Perseus take the news?"

I replied hesitantly, "I told him we were going for the summer and he took it okay. He looked upset and pained, but he took it quite well."

That's how I knew she didn't really care and wasn't really listening to what I was saying. I told her that I told him we were leaving for the summer. That's when the hardest thing I ever did hit me. I lied to him. I told him I'd be back by next school year; at the end of summer. I knew I lied at the time too. I was moving. To San Francisco. I was never coming back to New York. I've known for quite some time, actually. I just didn't have the heart to tell him that.

Little did he know I was not returning and that he'd never see me again. Little did I know that that was a lie too..


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter 2 didn't get very many views, but I assume that is because a lot a people didn't like where the story was going. Sucks for them because this is going to be a fantastic story. Chapter four will be up soon too. I'm trying to figure out where to go and how to get there. ****Disclaimer: i do not own any PJO characters.**

Chapter 3

**4 Years Ago**

**Annabeth POV**

It's been one year since I moved to San Francisco. One year since I told one of the biggest lies ever to my best friend in the whole entire world. I felt really bad about lying to him. He probably hated me now. I hated to think that though. But, deep down, I knew it was true. If he had done this to me I would most likely hate him, too.

I didn't fit in in San Fran. All the girls in San Fran were girly girls. They cared about their looks, having boyfriends, and shopping. There were a few girls, such as myself, who played sports. We had a Volleyball and a Softball team at my school. We also had track. I'll be going into seventh grade, so I'll probably try out for track. I loved to run. It's one of the only things that lets me clear my head.

I had no contact with Percy. I knew his address and apartment number, but I just couldn't write to him. I was afraid that he would never write back or anything. I was afraid that if he did write back he would just tell me how much he hates me. To be quite honest, it would just be unbearable if he told me that he hated me.

I didn't have any friends and I had been here for a year. You would think that I would have plenty of friends by now, huh? Nope. I didn't mind though. I would just drown myself in books and homework / schoolwork.

I listened to my iPod very frequently. In fact, come to think of it, whenever I had free time whether it be in between classes or during classes, I would listen to music. If I was in a good mood I would listen to country. I loved country music. If I wasn't in the best of moods, I would listen to specifically Fall Out Boy or Panic! At the Disco.

Over the summer, I read books and prepared for seventh grade by doing worksheets or reading specific books and writing literary analysis' about them. Sometimes I would even go online to see if there were any questions created for the reading.

I ran every day to prepare for track. I knew that track didn't even start until Spring, but it's never too early to start training, right? I decided that I would try out for softball, too. Never hurts to play more than one sport. Only one problem with doing track and softball. The both took place in Spring. I knew I would probably have to make a choice.

Summer passed rather quickly. It was probably because I did my best to stay busy. My mom and dad were hardly ever home. It was just me ninety percent of the time. At first I thought it would be lonely. That's when I discovered I was okay with being alone. I would rather have had Percy here with me though. I would never be lonely. I would never be upset because as soon as he would see a frown about to appear on my face, he would immediately try to cheer me up. He knew just how to make me smile too.

Tomorrow would be the start of seventh grade. I knew classes would be easy. They always are. I just didn't like going through life without my Seaweed Brain.

**4 Years Ago**

**Percy POV**

It was the summer between sixth and seventh grade. I can't believe that Annabeth lied to me. I suspected something was up though because half way through fifth grade, she always hung out with me at my apartment. Never at her house. I knew her father had been transferred to California, in San Francisco to be even more specific.

I was really upset at first. But then I thought, _What would Annabeth do_? So, throughout sixth grade, I started focusing on schoolwork and tried moving on with life. I thought about her all the time though. Constantly. Always worrying if she was okay. If she was happy. Hell, if she were even still alive. It bugged me every time I stopped to think about things. She was always there in my brain.

I tried to think on the positive side of things though. Since she left, she inspired me to focus harder on school. My grades went from really bad to almost average. And she had to be alive… I mean, it's Annabeth we're talking about here after all.

I passed sixth grade which I was really happy about. I spent the summer with some new friends that I had made that year. I spend most of it with Thalia and Nico. They were my best friends and my cousins. Grover and I quickly became friends that year too. I also made friends with Luke, Clarisse, Rachel, Silena, Charlie, and Chris.

I spent my whole entire summer hanging out with them. I was actually really happy. Not as happy as I would be if I had Anna with me, but I was making it through. I wish she had wrote me or called or something. I understood why she lied to me, however. She didn't wanna hurt me. And, admittedly, I would have been hurt. I couldn't gauge if I would have been hurt more or less though.

Seventh grade started tomorrow. I would be joining the swim team. I didn't even have to try out. The coach himself scouted me and offered me a position. I would be the anchor for our school's swimming team. I was beyond excited. The only thing that would make it better would be if Wise Girl was here to share this excitement…


	4. Chapter 4

**This chapter took me so long to write. Not because it's the longest but because I couldn't figure out Percy's POV for the longest time. ****Disclaimer: i do not own any PJO characters.** ENJOY!

Chapter 4

**2 Years Ago**

**Annabeth POV**

Seventh and eighth grade flew by. I managed to play for my school's track and softball teams despite the fact of them both taking place in the Spring. I did both for both years. Even though I was on two different sports teams, I still have zero friends. I've stopped trying to make friends after realizing that it just was not going to happen. I'm alone one hundred percent of the time now because even when my parents are home, they aren't.

I missed Percy to death. It was unbearable and intolerable without him. And with this realization and pain of being completely alone, I grabbed a knife. My parents wouldn't and couldn't care. They were never around enough to notice. I couldn't even believe that I was about to do this. I could have done a million other things. I could have finally manned up and called Seaweed brain. Oh, how I longed to see him. Hear his voice. Stare deep into those beautiful, unique sea green eyes.

Just thinking that pushed me to the edge and actually do something. I took the knife in my hand and used it to slit my wrists. I'd had enough. I couldn't deal with it anymore. The pain that I had no more Percy, no friends, no family, nothing. I had nothing at all. I had already made a few cuts before I even noticed that there was blood all over the place. I went into my bathroom and ran lukewarm water on my arm. It hurt like a bitch. _Not as painful and how you feel though_, I thought silently to myself.

Just to take extra precaution, I started wearing sweatshirts all the time despite the bloody hot weather. I didn't mind that I was weak. I just didn't want others to know. Come to think of it though, no one probably would have noticed. But, you can never be too safe I suppose. Kind of ironic for this situation, don't ya think?

I was also having some major self-esteem issues. I hated how people looked at me. I tried everything and did everything. I took diet pills. I made myself throw up. I was constantly exercising. When I wasn't popping pills, throwing up, or exercising I was either crying or cutting myself. Sometimes even both. I only ever ate dinner… If that. Sometimes I would go one to three days without eating. Nobody noticed. Not Mom. Not Dad. Nobody. They hadn't a clue how I felt. They didn't really care, quite frankly.

I was so depressed all the time now. I stopped caring for my grades long ago. I didn't have a purpose in life anymore. I had nothing. What purpose was there really? Even when I didn't care I was still making B's. To be quite honest, I wanted to die.

I bet Percy didn't feel this way. I bet he had made new friends and was leading an exemplary life. He had probably long forgotten about me now. He would never do what I was doing. He wasn't like that. I don't think he could ever be. He probably thought the same thing about me though and look at what I've been doing.

Thinking this made me even more depressed than before. I got the knife again and worked my way up my arms. I went into the bathroom and washed them to stop the blood from getting all over the place. _I bet he even has a girlfriend by now_, I thought out loud.

"That should be me!" I screamed to myself.

And with that, I grabbed a bottle of pills. I had no idea what pills they were, but they had to be mine if they were in my bathroom. I grabbed a few and took them. I had no clue what I was doing. I was acting on impulse.

I would be starting high school soon. I was going into the ninth grade. I had no clubs, no sports, just school work. Ninth grade was filled with more depression, more pills, and more scars. I was numb that whole year. Nobody noticed. Not teachers, not students, not my own parents. That was how I knew nobody cared about me. I was invisible to the world. I thought I could find my happiness. And my brain convinced me I did. That happiness was straight from the bottle.

**2 Years Ago**

**Percy POV**

Seventh and eighth grade went by without a hitch. I had all my new friends to keep me company; I was never lonely. I was on the swim team both years. I had accepted the past. The fact that Annabeth moved. The fact that she was never coming back.

She was probably fine. Definitely one of the most beautiful and most popular girls at her school I bet. The smartest hands down. It's been about three years, but I've accepted all the facts. That made me happy. It was sad that she wasn't around though. I was happy I was surrounded by my friends though.

Life was genuinely good. I was doing really well in school (for me anyway). I spent a lot of my time in the water. It just calmed me down and made me forget about the world. I knew deep down that Wise Girl was okay. She was always okay. Nothing could ever get to her. She would never do anything stupid or irrational. She was Annabeth Chase. She was Wise Girl.

Ninth grade was great. That, too, passed without a hitch. I had descent grades; I had all my classes with my friends. I was on Varsity Swimming Team. Captain, too, may I add. And I'd say I did a pretty damn good job, if I do say so myself. We came in first place at every competition.

I also had a girlfriend for a short stint of time. Her name was Calypso. She was gorgeous. She was generally new to school. She moved here three years ago. I ended up breaking up with her, though. In reality, I dated her to try to get over Annabeth. She was nothing like Anna though. She didn't even compare. That was a small setback in my acceptance.

Wise Girl probably thinks I did something stupid, me being her Seaweed Brain and all. Seaweed Brain. I haven't heard that name in a while. I didn't allow anyone else to call me that. She was the only one. Just like how I was the only one who could call her Wise Girl. Hell, I was the only one who could even barely get by with calling her Annie. The first time I did, I swear she might have killed me.

I missed her terribly. I didn't let it show, though. I feel like one of the most important things in the world had been taken away from me. It still hurt that she lied to me. But, in actuality, I would probably have done the same thing. Anything to not hurt her. That was the last thing I wanted to do. Seeing her hurt would kill me. And she probably felt the same way. I knew she hated it when I was hurt and I knew she couldn't stand it.

But all of that is in the past I'll never see her again. Or so I thought..


	5. Chapter 5

**Disclaimer: i do not own any PJO characters.**

Chapter 5

**A Few Weeks Ago**

**Percy POV**

It was a normal summer day. School had just gotten out a couple of days ago. It was around noon and I was just waking up. My mom and Paul were gone for the whole summer. I had had my friends over a couple of times, but, I mean, it's not like I'm throwing crazy, wild parties or anything.

I went to the kitchen to find some breakfast. After rummaging through the kitchen for about twenty minutes, I settled on cereal. Mainly because it's one of the only things I can actually make without totally screwing up the apartment. I poured a bowl of Reece's Puffs and went into the living room and turned on the T.V.

I settled for watching Friends. The show has grown on me over the years. It's really funny and I could picture some of my friends as certain characters. Specifically Grover as Mike and Juniper as Phoebe. I laughed at that thought out loud. I laughed even harder, happy I was the only one in the apartment.

When I finished my cereal, I washed my bowl and spoon. I set them on a towel next to the sink to dry. While they dried, I went to go take a shower. I got out and got dressed. I put on a pair of basketball shorts and a green shirt. By the time I was done getting dressed it was close to one o'clock.

I decided to turn on the television again. I started surfing through the channels. I couldn't find anything on T.V. so I started looking through our movie collection. I narrowed it down to Spaceballs and Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventure. I couldn't choose just one, so I made the decision that I must watch both. I started with Spaceballs. I laughed so hard through just about the entire film. Then I put in Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventure. I could so see me and Grover doing this. That thought made me laugh even harder than normal during the movie.

When I finished watching both movies it was about six o'clock. Time for dinner. I went into the kitchen and started to think about what I wanted to eat. I thought about it for a minute or two then decided that I wanted pasta.

I went to the cupboard and looked for a box of pasta. I found pasta sauce. No pasta. _Well, great_, I thought to myself, _what do I want to eat now_…? I then settled for the next best thing. Macaroni and cheese. This was one of the few things I could actually cook on my own. Legitly, actually cook. I put the macaroni in a pot and waited for the water to boil. I then did all the other boring shit you have to do just to have a descent bowl of mac and cheese. It's a little excessive if you ask me, but hey… Who am I to say?

I got a bowl and went to the table to eat. That's when I heard a knock on the door.

"That's weird. I have no clue who that could be. Wonder who it is," I thought aloud to myself.

I opened the door. In front of me, right before my very eyes, was the blonde haired, grey eyed beauty that left me five years ago. It's been five years and of all the things I could have said to her, what did I say?

In my stupefied state, the only thing that managed to escape my mouth was, "Annabeth?"

**A Few Weeks Ago**

**Annabeth POV**

We were a few days into summer vacation. It's been about 5 years since I moved away from New York. My life here, in San Francisco, California, had been a living Hell. I hated it here, I hated my life, and I hated everything. I had been cutting myself, taking random pills, was anorexic, and bulimic. Anything to make the pain go away. It must have been working because I felt completely numb on the inside.

I had nothing anymore. It was killing me that I had no Percy. He was my Seaweed Brain and I had lied to him about moving. I felt terrible and depressed. As soon as this thought crossed my mind I grabbed my knife. I started making incisions on my arms. I stuck the knife into my arms and didn't even feel it. I'd been doing it for so long that I was unable to feel the physical pain of cutting.

It was a typical summer day for me. My parents weren't home (shocker, I know), but there was one difference. Not the cutting. That was normal even though summer was supposed to be a stress free vacation spent with friends and going on family vacations. I had no friends and practically no family, which I accepted years ago. Well, I suppose I didn't really accept it if I was cutting myself because of the emotional pain of being one hundred and ten percent alone in the world. No, the weird part was that at 3, I had a plane to catch.

Last night, my parents finally actually spoke to me. They still hadn't noticed my cutting, pill taking, anorexia, or bulimia. No, they noticed that in the five years that I had been living in San Fran, I hadn't hung out with any friends or done any clubs or sports since about eighth grade. This really pushed me over the top because out of anything they could get on my ass about, they get on my ass about not having friends and being antisocial. That night, when I went up to my room, I got on my laptop and bought a plane ticket for the first plane out of here to New York. The first plane was at 3 o'clock the next day. I booked it.

The day of the flight, I packed up most of my things. Well, as much as I could fit into a few duffels and my backpack. I rode a cab to the airport. It felt so much like when I left New York. In a cab with some duffel bags and my backpack. The only difference this time is that, instead of going away from Percy, I'm going to him. He was the only one in New York I knew. I got to the airport and got my luggage checked. I found my gate rather easily. I gave the ticket lady my ticket and went through the terminal. I found my seat. I ended up sleeping the whole flight to New York. When we landed and I retrieved my luggage, I hailed a cab. I told the driver Percy's address and we took off.

I got to his apartment at around six-thirtyish. I was very nervous for some reason. Oh yeah. It could have been the fact that I hadn't seen him in five years and he might be mad as Hell at me. _Come on, Annabeth. Ball up_, I thought to myself. I stood outside his door, silently weeping. After a few minutes, I wiped the tears with my sweatshirt sleeves. I lifted my hand up, curled it into a fist and knocked on the door.

He had just sat down at the table, I think, to eat dinner. It made sense. It being about quarter to seven and all. I felt really bad since he probably had just sat down to eat his dinner. I knew it was him coming to the door because I'm pretty sure I heard him trip over something. He finally got to the door. When he opened it I knew he was totally, completely shocked. I could tell by the look on his face that I was the last person he expected to see standing outside of his door.

The only thing he could manage to say, in a voice that I've longed to hear for five agonizing years, "Annabeth?"


	6. Chapter 6

**I am just going to continue from my last point, but I will not keep putting "A Few Weeks Ago" and so on and so forth at the beginning of each chapter. ****Disclaimer: i do not own any PJO characters.**

Chapter 6

**Percy POV**

I stood there dumbfounded in the doorway of my apartment. I couldn't believe it. After five years, she had finally come back. I guess she could tell that I was at a loss of words now, since I think Annabeth was the only thing I could think or say.

"Hi," she said shyly as if she didn't know who I was. She smiled one her coy smiles that I loved and couldn't resist. But, when she said it, I could see her grey eyes start to storm over as if the clouds in her eyes were about to pour down on the rest of the world. I didn't like that look…

"When did you get back?" I asked.

"Oh, um, about forty - five minutes ago, I think."

That's good. I had feared that she had been back for years and just didn't wanna see me again. Knowing that she has only been back for not even an hour made me so happy. I would hug her, but I know how much she likes her personal space. Oh, well. I'm her best friend, or at least I was. I didn't know if I still was or not since she's been gone for five years. I really didn't care, though. I pulled her into the biggest hug anyone could manage to give. We were like that for like thirty seconds before I realized that in the past five years, I've gotten considerably stronger and I didn't wanna crush her. I mean, she'd just gotten back for gods' sake.

"Where's the rest of your family? Did you move back into the house you were in before you moved to California? What time do you have to go back?" I asked. I could tell I rushed her because she just stood there for a minute, contemplating where to start.

"Well," she started, "We didn't move back to our old house, and I don't have to go back anytime soon. See, funny story, thing is, I kinda came here on my own. I ran away."

I couldn't believe what I was hearing. Annabeth runaway? It was almost unthinkable. That's when I also noticed the most depressed look come across her face. I wasn't sure if it was the questions, the answers, or just thinking about it that made her so melancholy. That's when the fact that the ran away finally clicked in my brain. I looked out in the hallway outside the apartment and yep. Sure enough there were two duffel bags, her computer bag, and her backpack.

I went out into the hallway and got her bags. She stood there dumbfounded. I didn't think she would ever not know what was going on or not know something.

"Come on. What are you waiting for? Get in here Anna Beth." I told to her. Well, it was more like shouting since I went back to the guest room and set her things in there.

"Percy, it's Annabeth. Not Anna Beth. Annabeth. One word. I know it has been five years, but I would have thought you would have remembered."

"I know it is. I just wanted to see if you would have the same reaction as you did when we were eleven."

"Gods, you're such a Seaweed Brain, ya know that?"

That's when I ran to her, giving her another bear hug. "Gods, you don't know how long I've been waiting for you to call me that again, Wise Girl."

I don't know what I did wrong, or right for that matter, but whatever it was, she broke down crying. I didn't really know what to do, so I let her just cry on my shoulder. The tears soaked my shirt, but I didn't really care. Annabeth was back and that's all that mattered. As she cried, I just stoked her hair. Those long, blonde curls that were, for once, down instead of in a ponytail like usual. I tried calming her down and I guess it worked because after a few minutes she stopped crying.

"Annabeth, what happened?"

"I don't wanna talk about it."

"Are you okay, Annabeth? You look like you haven't eaten for days. Hell, maybe even weeks. And you are upset about something. I can see it in your eyes."

"Percy, seriously, I don't wanna talk about it. And you're walking on really thin ice with all these questions."

I didn't know what else to say or do. I wanted to, hell I needed to, figure out and know why she was back here all of a sudden. It was the most out of the blue thing that could have possibly happened. And being the Seaweed Brain I am, I kind of snapped at her.

"Annabeth! You have been gone for five years and now you show up here out of the blue on my doorstep looking for a place to stay because you ran away from home and you won't even tell me what has you so irrational, upset, and pissed off! Excuse me for caring about you and your well-being! I deserve to know what the fuck is going on."

After I said it, I immediately regretted it. If I could go back in time and take it all back I would have.

"Ya know, I can leave if that's what you really want. I can grab my things and walk right back out that door if that's what would make you content. Maybe coming here was a mistake after all…" she said practically in tears. I knew I fucked up big time.

"No! Coming here was most definitely not a mistake. You know you can always come here when you need somewhere to go, a shoulder to cry on, and/or someone to talk to. Now, you've already done two out of three. Wanna try to do the third?"

"I already told you no," she said with sorrow in her voice.

She looked like she was going to cry again, but she didn't. Not yet anyway. I was actually kind of proud of her. She took what I had to say with a heart of stone. But, I'm afraid that didn't last too long.

She walked right by me, tears in her eyes, and started going straight to her room. That's when I saw her reach for something that was in her pocket. I didn't make much of it though. Looking back on it now, I wish I had. I let her go and gave her some space. Something else I wish I hadn't done…

**Annabeth POV**

I stood there staring at him. Looking at his gorgeous, one of a kind, sea green eyes. I had missed those eyes so much. But, no matter how familiar he was, he wasn't.

"Hi," I said coyly, like I hadn't a clue who he was. Which was true to a certain extent. I didn't know how he was gonna handle seeing me after so many years without communication or contact of any sorts.

"When did you get back?" he asked me.

"Oh, um, about forty – five minutes ago, I think."

He looked particularly relieved that I had said that, as if he would have been devastated if I had said anything else. He smiled. His brilliant white teeth shining towards me. That's when he did it. He pulled me in for the biggest hug I have ever gotten in my life. Ever. Now, normally I'm all for personal space, but this time I was rather relieved the he had hugged me. I mean, he could have just slammed the door in my face, but he didn't. I loved him for that. About thirty seconds into the hug, he let go. Which, in retrospect, was a good thing. You see, over the years, he had gotten considerably stronger. He probably could crush me.

"Where's the rest of your family? Did you move back into the house you were in before you moved to California? What time do you have to go back?" he asked.

I took a minute and thought about how to answer, where to start.

"Well," I started, "We didn't move back to our old house, and I don't have to go back anytime soon. See, funny story, thing is, I kinda came here on my own. I ran away."

He just stood there for a second as if trying so hard to process what I had just told him. He must have noticed that I looked rather sad, depressed was more like it, because his facial expression changed to a kind of sympathetic look. Great. Sympathy. That's not what I came here looking for. I didn't want his sympathy. I didn't want anyone's sympathy.

The fact that I had run away must have finally clicked into his brain or something because he then leaned out to look in the hallway and saw my bags. He came out into the hallway and grabbed my things for me. I stood there just staring at him. I didn't expect him to do that after lying to him about moving years and years ago.

"Come on. What are you waiting for? Get in here Anna Beth." he told to me. He kind of had to shout it though since he went into the back of the apartment to set my things in the guest room.

"Percy, it's Annabeth. Not Anna Beth. Annabeth. One word. I know it has been five years, but I would have thought you would have remembered."

"I know it is. I just wanted to see if you would have the same reaction as you did when we were eleven."

"Gods, you're such a Seaweed Brain, ya know that?"

That's when I ran to her, giving her another bear hug. "Gods, you don't know how long I've been waiting for you to call me that again, Wise Girl."

I was completely unaware of what had just happened. All the good times with Percy, my Seaweed Brain, flooded back into my mind. I broke down. Right in front of him and, quite frankly, I didn't give a shit. He let me cry on his shoulder. I felt really bad that I was soaking his shirt with my tears though. I knew he was probably uncomfortable with this. At least until he started shushing me and stroked my hair. After a while, I started calming down, and the crying ceased.

"Annabeth, what happened?"

"I don't wanna talk about it."

"Are you okay, Annabeth? You look like you haven't eaten for days. Hell, maybe even weeks. And you are upset about something. I can see it in your eyes."

"Percy, seriously, I don't wanna talk about it. And you're walking on really thin ice with all these questions."

I didn't wanna get into the whole reason and the past five years (what I have been doing to myself) quite yet. Eventually, maybe, I would tell him. It may not be today, it may not be tomorrow, but I would eventually tell him. And he was right. I haven't eaten in three or four days. I don't think he quite understood though. He just looked at me and I could tell by his eyes that all Hades was about to break lose. It was like there were little tsunamis in his eyes. Then he snapped at me.

"Annabeth! You have been gone for five years and now you show up here out of the blue on my doorstep looking for a place to stay because you ran away from home and you won't even tell me what has you so irrational, upset, and pissed off! Excuse me for caring about you and your well-being! I deserve to know what the fuck is going on."

I knew he was kind of right. But, I wasn't ready to completely spill my guts at that very moment. Normally, I would have. But circumstances were completely different now. I didn't like how he was treating me at the precise moment either.

"Ya know, I can leave if that's what you really want. I can grab my things and walk right back out that door if that's what would make you content. Maybe coming here was a mistake after all…" I said practically in tears. By the look on his face and in his eyes, I could tell that he knew he completely fucked up.

"No! Coming here was most definitely not a mistake. You know you can always come here when you need somewhere to go, a shoulder to cry on, and/or someone to talk to. Now, you've already done two out of three. Wanna try to do the third?"

"I already told you no," I said with sorrow in her voice.

I thought I was going to cry again, but luckily I didn't. Not yet. I stood there and took what he had to say with my "heart of stone" façade. It didn't last long though.

I walked right past him and started reaching for my pocket on my way to my bedroom. I don't think he saw exactly what was in my pocket. Either way, I didn't really care all that much. He let me have my space. I went into my room, shut the door and locked it. I looked at the knife in my hand. I thought I came here to stop this, but I guess not. I slice my arm with it and that was that.


	7. Chapter 7

**Thank you all for your patients with me. I meant to upload chapter seven a while ago, but I got writer's block temporarily. ****Disclaimer: i do not own any PJO characters.**

**The AvidReader: I will probably end up using that later in the story. Probably in chapter eleven or so. Thank you for the suggestion, I greatly appreciate it. However, I hope you don't mind if I twist it around a little bit to make it fit the story. Thank you!**

**And now on with the story!**

Chapter 7

**Annabeth POV**

I grabbed some tissues and wiped up the blood from my arm, trying to get it to stop bleeding. I was really glad Percy let me have my space. I didn't know what I would do if he saw me like this. Gods, I hoped he would never see me like this. But, I guess I probably should have thought twice about that before showing up at his doorstep, huh?

It's been about forty – five minutes since I locked myself in my room. I wasn't sure if it made me happy or upset that Perce hasn't at least knocked on the door to check on me. I think it actually made me sad because you would think he would have at least knocked and check once, right? But it made me happy too because this way he wouldn't have to see me in the state I'm in and it also meant he trusted me to not do anything stupid, but the fact the he trusted me not to do something stupid depressed me more because that's what I was in here doing. Something stupid.

It was about eight thirty when he decided that I had enough time to myself. He came and knocked on my bedroom door.

"Give me a sec, Perce!" I told him.

I put on a long sleeve shirt that completely covered my arms so there would be no possibility of him seeing the scars. It was my favourite black one. I chose black because that way if blood started to seep from one of the scars or one of the freshly made cuts it would be barely noticeable. I went over and unlocked and opened the door.

"Yeah?" I asked him.

"I was just checking to make sure you were okay. I didn't like the look I saw in your eyes before you locked yourself in here. I gave you some space to calm down. Are you good now?"

"Uh, yeah. I'm just peachy. Thanks for checking, Seaweed Brain."

"Of course. What else are best friends for?"

I smiled and laughed at that. So we were still best friends after all this time… That was actually really nice and reassuring to hear. Then he looked me over once.

"You honestly look like you haven't eaten in days. I can see your bones and rib cage. Have you eaten dinner yet?" he asked me.

"No; I'm not hungry. California is on a different time zone, remember? I'm used to that time zone, not this one. I'll probably just get something later," I lied.

Percy was right despite the fact that he was a complete Seaweed brain. It has been days since I've eaten. I really wasn't hungry though. I'm used to almost never eating. I looked around frantically to avoid eye contact with him so he couldn't see in my eyes that I was lying to him.

"Okay… Do you wanna come watch a movie with me in the living room or something?" he asked.

"Um, yeah. Sure. A movie sounds good."

We went into the living room and started looking through his DVD's. After a couple minutes of debating and eliminating movies, we decided on The Matrix. Before we put it in, we decided to go put our pajamas on. For me, that consisted of a tank top (with a sweatshirt over it of course), and a pair of running shorts. I went back out to the living room and found Percy sitting on the couch waiting for me.

I was completely shocked, however, at the sight I saw. I shouldn't have been, but I was. He was sitting on the couch shirtless with a pair of lounge pants on. His body was smokin' hot. He had perfect abs. He had well defined muscles. Seeing him without a shirt on made me melt and made my legs feel like jello. That's how hot he was. Picture Channing Tatum, but with gorgeous semi – floppy black hair that fell slightly over a pair of beautiful sea green eyes. Luckily, he didn't see me gaping at him. I managed to stop before he turned around and noticed me.

"Hey, you ready?" he asked me.

"Yep," I replied.

We started the movie. I loved this movie so much. The Matrix is my favourite movie trilogy ever. Keanu Reeves is so hot. Come to think of it…He looks a little bit like Percy. Definitely the hair is almost the same. A couple minutes into the movie, Percy got up and got some popcorn. He offered me some and I politely declined. That started another unwanted conversation / argument.

"Annabeth, it's nine o'clock. That's six o'clock California time. That's about dinnertime. You have to eat, Anna."

That got me flaming mad. Not just the fact that he was trying to tell me what to do and trying to make me eat something, but also the fact that he called me Anna.

"What. Did. You. Just. Call. Me?"

"Anna. A – N – N – A. Anna."

"Don't you dare call me that, Perseus Jackson!"

"Then eat something."

"What is the big deal!? I'm not hungry! Is that a crime or something?"

"Why won't you just eat some damn popcorn or something?"

"Fine."

And with that, I ate a couple of handfuls of popcorn, unhappily. Although, I had to admit, it felt kind of good to eat again. I don't know why he couldn't just let me be though. I didn't see what the big deal was. When we got to my favourite part of the movie, I was really tired. I watched Neo do the backward bend thingy to dodge the bullets coming at him. That was by far the coolest and best scene in the whole trilogy. After that scene, I fell asleep on the couch.

The next thing I knew, someone was wrapping their arms around me and carrying me bridal style, to the guest room, that I was now claiming as mine as if I lived here, that someone being Percy. My Seaweed Brain. He placed me in my bed and pulled the covers over me. Then, right before he left, he kissed the top of my head. I was sooo not expecting that. But then again, I was mostly asleep anyway. That night I had very strange dreams. Actually, they were more like nightmares.

_"Annabeth, what the fuck are you doing?"_

_I was holding a knife in my hand about to plunge it into my chest. I was about to end my life; end my misery. He saw me, though, delaying my suicide. He ran over to me and held me while I was sitting in the sand at Montauk. He saw that there was already blood on the knife and blood dripping onto the sand. His eyes then went straight to my wrists. _

_He held me while I cried. He didn't push me or pressure me into telling him anything. He just sat there and let me cry. Gods I loved him. I really did. I managed to muffle a sentence out._

_"I'm so sorry, Percy."_

_"Shh Shh Shh. It's okay, Annie. But, I gotta ask… Why?"_

_"I want to be put out of my misery. I hate my life. I hate who I am. I'm scared to see myself. I'm my own worst enemy. This isn't who I want to be. I'm not meant to be here. Living, I mean."_

_"Stop thinking like that. Stop talking like that. You have every right to live just like me. You will never be alone. I'm always here for you and you should know that. I am and will be everywhere and everything you need me to be. I love you, Wise Girl."_

_"Percy, I love you too. But I don't have the will to go on. I want to die."_

_"Okay. You want to die? Fine." _

_He got up and grabbed the knife before I could. He lunged at me. Perseus Jackson was trying to kill me. I wasn't sure if I wanted to die anymore now. It was one thing when it was suicide, but murder wasn't the same. Murder was brutal. I didn't wanna be murdered. I couldn't die by someone else's hand. If I was going to die, it had to be by my hand or of natural causes. And never, ever by Percy's. This threw me completely off guard._

_We spent forever battling. I wouldn't let someone else win and take my life. But, one of us was going to have to die. I didn't want to kill him. So that's when it happened. He killed me. He stabbed me repeatedly._

The next thing I knew, Percy was in my room trying to get me to wake me up. I guess I was screaming or something if he was in here trying to get me to wake up.

"Annabeth wake up. Come on Annabeth! Get up, please!"

I bolted up, sweating, screaming, crying.

"It's okay, Wise Girl. Everything is okay, I promise," he said holding me.

"Get off of me," I said as I quickly pulled away from him.

He looked at me as if I were crazy and belonged in the loony bin. I don't think he was expecting me to pull away so quickly, but I couldn't get the image of him trying to kill me out of my head. What if he really did want me dead…?

* * *

**Percy POV**

Annabeth has been locked in her room for about forty – five minutes now. I wanted to go check on her and make sure she was okay earlier, but I wanted her to have her space and be able to calm down. Let her think, ya know? She was Wise Girl after all. All she ever did was think. It was now eight thirty and I decided she had had enough time. I knocked on her door.

"Give me a sec, Perce!" she yelled out to me.

I heard her fumbling around in her room. Looking for something, maybe? Perhaps even unpacking or something of that nature. She came over to the door, unlocked it, and opened it. When she opened it, she looked distraught, upset even. However, that look only lasted for maybe three seconds and smiled a smile that just had to be fake.

"Yeah?" she asked me as if nothing was wrong at all.

"I was just checking to make sure you were okay," I started cautiously. "I didn't like the look I saw in your eyes before you locked yourself in here. I gave you some space to calm down. Are you good now?"

"Uh, yeah. I'm just peachy. Thanks for checking, Seaweed Brain."

"Of course. What else are best friends for?"

She smiled a real smile. Gods I loved her smile. And her laugh too. I love everything about her. _Percy what the hell are you doing, man! _I thought to myself. _She's your best friend! Do you really want to risk it? And she just came back after five years and a huge lie. _I looked her over once and noticed she was all skin and bone.

"You honestly look like you haven't eaten in days. I can see your bones and rib cage. Have you eaten dinner yet?" I asked her.

"No; I'm not hungry. California is on a different time zone, remember? I'm used to that time zone, not this one. I'll probably just get something later," was the reply I got. It made sense though. Cali is three hours behind New York, so it was only about five – thirty there.

It really did like she's been days, maybe even weeks, since she last ate though. I've never seen anybody who has looked like she did. Rib cage sticking out, you could practically see all the bones in her body, too. She moved her eyes around frantically as if trying to look at anything but me.

"Okay… Do you wanna come watch a movie with me in the living foom or something?" I asked her.

"Um, yeah. Sure. A movie sounds good."

Her and I went into the living room and started rummaging through my family's collection of DVD's. After a few minutes of debating and vetoing movies, we settled on The Matrix. I should have seen it coming. It was her favourite movie. Before we put it in, we chose to put our pajamas on. My pajamas were simple. A pair of lounge pants. I thought about putting on a t-shirt in case Annabeth felt uncomfortable, but the apartment was just so bloody hot. She was still getting change when I came out of my room, so I decided to wait for her in the living room.

She came out of her room. Finally. She's been in there for like ten minutes. Then again, she is a girl and hey, what the hell do I know about girls and how they get ready for bed? I could see her out of the corner of my eye. She looked kind of shell shocked from my view point. I had a feeling that she was a little uncomfortable. Either that or just getting used to it. After a minute I turned around and look at her.

"Hey, you ready?" I asked her.

"Yep," she replied as if she wasn't just staring at me for a whole minute, at least

We started the movie. I was Anna's favourite movie. It was a good movie, minus the not so great graphics. I had to give it to her, it was one of the best movies I've ever seen. After a couple minutes of the movie had played, I realized that I forgot to pop some popcorn. I got up and popped some. I went back to the couch when it was done and offered some to Annabeth. She declined, politely. I wish I hadn't sparked that argument I had with what I said next.

"Annabeth, it's nine o'clock. That's six o'clock California time. That's about dinnertime. You have to eat, Anna."

I could tell by the look in her eyes that I had fucked up yet again. The storm clouds gathered in her eyes. She was pissed.

"What. Did. You. Just. Call. Me?"

What I said next was even dumber, if that's even possible.

"Anna. A – N – N – A. Anna."

"Don't you dare call me that, Perseus Jackson!"

At this point, I really didn't care all that much that she called me by my full name. Normally, I would have gotten pissed too, but there was something wrong with her right now and I knew it.

"Then eat something," I rebuttled.

"What is the big deal!? I'm not hungry! Is that a crime or something?" she screamed back at me.

"Why won't you just eat some damn popcorn or something?"

"Fine."

After that argument was over, and I won, she took a handful of popcorn and started eating it with an unhappy look lain upon her face. When we finally got to one of the best scenes in the movie, the scene where Neo had to dodge some bullets so he does some complicated backwards bendy thing, Annabeth was looking really tired. A little while after that scene, I noticed that she had fallen asleep on the couch.

I didn't want her to sleep on the couch so I picked her up and carried her bridal style to her bedroom. I put her in the bed and pulled some of the covers over her. Before I left, I kissed the top of her head. I don't know why, though. I went to my room contemplating this for a while.

After about an hour of thinking about why I had kissed the top of Annabeth's head before leaving her room, I came up with a logicalish answer. It was a spur of the moment thing I told myself. Okay, so that's a lie. Sue me. It was actually because I like her. I didn't just like her though, I'm pretty sure I loved her. Not love her like a sister, but love her like one day I will marry her somehow love. That's when I heard her screaming.

It was heart retching to hear her screaming. I immediately jumped off of my bed and ran into her room to see if she was alright. When I got into her room, she was still sleeping. I don't know how someone could sleep through that scream.

"Annabeth wake up," I started. She wasn't responding, but I knew she was still breathing which let me know she was still only sleeping. "Come on Annabeth! Get up, please!"

She then bolted up. She was sweating, screaming, and crying. I hated seeing her like this. It killed me. It wasn't right. It wasn't Annabeth. Or at least it wasn't the Annabeth I knew years and years ago.

"It's okay, Wise girl," I said pulling her into me. "Everything is okay, I promise."

"Get off of me," she said as she quickly pulled away from me.

I just sat there and looked at her. Admittedly, in her view point, it probably looked like I was staring at her like she was crazy and belongs in an insane asylum. I would have asked her if she wanted to talk about it, but I already knew that the answer was going to be no. Talking was always a no with her for some reason, unknown to me, now – a – days. I was dying to know what was wrong and how she was feeling.

When she looked back at me, I could see pain in her eyes as if just the sight of me brought her tragic, unbearable pain. I hated the look in her eyes right now. But, deep down in my heart, I knew that she needed space. That is the only thing about girls that I knew well. When they were angry or upset, they wanted and need space for a little while. Eventually they would talk about it. However, I continued to sit there and stare at her. She was thinking about something and she was thinking hard. I just wanted to know what she was thinking. I needed to know what she was thinking…If I had, a lot of things that I know happened know would probably have never happened…


	8. Chapter 8

**Thank you all for your patience, again. I know I haven't uploaded in like two days! :O I'm shocked myself. I planned to upload this yesterday, but didn't have the time. It took me a while to write too though, but I got through it, happy with its outcome. Disclaimer: I do not own any PJO characters or PJO itself.**

**TheAvidReader: I will do 3rd person for stories after this probably. This story is just too personal for me to not do in 3rd person since it's based on things that have happened in my life (not how it happened exactly in real life though but darn close). And yes, dear. I have read Lord of the Flies. Hated it. Haha. I went through and put in all the disclaimers. And Hayley will show up in the story somewhere. I'm just having a tough time figuring out where though since my Hayley has not yet shown up in my life to turn it around (but, hey, neither has my Percy). And I updated as fast as I could, darling!**

Chapter 8

**Annabeth POV**

Percy looked at me with a bewildered look upon his face. I have to admit, I did feel really bad about yelling at him. All he was trying to do was help. _Let him help you, Annabeth. It was only a dream. He would never intentionally try to hurt you. You love him, let him help_, I thought silently. _I do not love him! I do not love him! Snap out of it, Annabeth_, I silently told myself.

"Percy, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to snap at you like that. It was just… The dream… It was so realistic…," I said on the verge of tears.

"It's okay. Do you wanna talk about it?" He asked kindly and seriously.

"It's no big deal."

"Well it obviously is if you're waking up screaming and crying, snapping at me like that."

"Fine. In the dream, someone was trying to kill me, Percy. That someone was you," I half lied to him. I mean, I did try to kill myself first in the dream.

"Annabeth, I would never try to hurt you, let alone kill you. You have to believe that. You have to know that by now," he told me with the most sincere tone of voice.

I sighed. "Yeah, I know that now."

"Now? Did you ever think I would try to hurt you and / or kill you?"

"Well, sort of."

"Don't think that. Ever. You know as well as I do that I would never."

And on that note, he kissed my forehead and got up to leave. Normally, as you know, I'm not one for touching someone and human contact, but something compelled to me to get up and grab his hand before he left. He turned around and looked at me, but he didn't really look surprised that I had done this. He looked a little bit happy that I had. I pulled him into a giant hug, like he had done to me only a few hours ago.

"Thank you, Seaweed Brain," I whispered to him.

"Of course, Wise Girl."

With that I let him leave. He shut my door and returned to his room. I have to admit though, when I grabbed his hand, I felt something. Was it love? Was it appreciation? I pondered this for the rest of the night. I did have a peaceful sleep for the rest of that night, which I was thankful for.

I didn't wake up until nine – thirty the next morning. I got out of bed and went into the kitchen. Much to my surprise, Percy was already up. He was sitting at the kitchen table, eating a bowl of cereal. He looked up and saw.

"Morning," he said to me in that sexy voice men always seem to have first thing in the morning.

"Why, yes. Yes it is," I replied in a smartass way.

"I didn't really mean it so literal like that…"

"Oh, I know. Just thought I would have some fun with it."

He gave me a crooked smile that totally worked for him and laughed at my response. Gods I loved his laugh. It felt good to hear it again. Despite what had happened yesterday, I felt abnormally happy today. We sat there in silence for a few minutes. Percy was the one to break the silence.

"Do you want a bowl of cereal or something?"

"Maybe later. I'm gonna grab a quick shower first, kay?"

"Yeah, sure."

I walked back to my room to grab my shampoo, conditioner, soap, and a pair of clothes out of my bags and headed for the bathroom. My shower didn't last too terribly long; maybe about seven minutes or so. I got out, got dressed, and went back into the kitchen.

When I got into the kitchen, Percy just sat there, looked at me, smiled, and chuckled.

"What?" I half laughed.

"Do you always sing in the shower?"

I just stood there for a minute. I was completely unaware that I had started to sing in the shower. You see, I often do sing in the shower. But, I, obviously, do it absent mindedly ninety five percent of the time.

"Apparently," I replied.

"What was it that you were singing?"

"I don't know. I wasn't even aware that I was singing. If I was unaware of my singing, how could I possibly know what I was singing?"

"I don't know. You're Wise Girl. You always know everything. I was hoping you knew what you were singing."

"Maybe I can figure it out. How did it go?"

"Something about you being your own worst enemy and surrendering or something like that. Which, to be honest, kind of scares me."

"Oh! Never Surrender by Skillet," I stated in a matter of fact manner. I shrugged. "It's a good song. I like it."

"Well, you sang it beautifully."

Can you say awkward? I can. That situation just escalated from normal to awkward in about eight seconds. I didn't really know how to respond.

"Uh, thanks? I think."

"You're welcome. So what do you wanna do today?"

"I hadn't really put much thought into what to do today, to be quite frank. In case you haven't noticed, Perce, I hadn't really put much thought into a lot of things in the past forty eight hours."

"That's true. Well, you should just take a day to relax and rest with the whole time zone change and all. I mean, you did lose like three hours of your day yesterday, technically."

"Yeah, I was thinking that myself…"

"And, you could call your parents and tell them you're alright. They're probably worried sick about you."

What an asshole. He just played the parent card. He was trying to get me to talk to him about why I had come here and why I had run away. I can't believe he would do that. That was so low. Despite how badly I did want to tell him what was going on at home, I couldn't bring myself to do it.

"Hades no. I can't believe you would play that card, Perseus. I told you that I don't wanna talk about it. I'll tell you at some point though. I promise."

"Cross your heart and hope to die? Swear on the River Styx?"

"Cross my heart and hope to die. I swear on the River Styx that I will at some point tell you."

At least it wouldn't matter if I broke the promise or not. I wanted to die anyways with the way things were going. But, the problem was, he didn't know. I know, I know. Why not just tell him already, right? I don't know. But I probably should have…

**Percy POV**

I looked at her, confused. All I was trying to do was help her and she bursts out yelling at me. I didn't really know what to do, so I guess I just sat there giving her a bewildered stare. But, hey, maybe she didn't want to be helped. A lot of times, she didn't. She was Annabeth and with Annabeth that meant pride came first. Getting help damaged her pride, I suppose.

"Percy, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to snap at you like that. It was just… The dream… It was so realistic…," she said. She looked like she was about to cry again.

I tried to comfort her.

"It's okay. Do you wanna talk about?" I asked.

"It's no big deal."

"Well it obviously is if you're waking up screaming and crying, snapping at me like that," I tried to reason with her.

"Fine. In the dream, someone was trying to kill me Percy. That someone was you."

I tried to look in her eyes to see if she was lying to me or not. Her eyes told me she was telling the truth, which, to be honest, scared me a tad bit.

"Annabeth, I would never try to hurt you, let alone kill you. You have to believe that. You have to know that by now," I told her.

"Yeah, I know that now," she sighed.

"Now?" I said confusedly. "Did you ever think I would try to hurt you and / or kill you?"

"Well, sort of," she admitted.

After that, I got up to leave. However, I don't know why, but I kissed her forehead before leaving. Fucking emotions screwing with my brain. I hate it. But, Gods, I loved her with all my heart. Or, at least I'm pretty sure I did.

On my way out the door, Annabeth leapt out of her bed and came running towards me and grabbed my hand. I turned towards her to face her. To tell the truth, I kind of expected it. I don't really know why, but I did. I probably even looked a smidgen happy. She pulled me into a hug like what I had given her earlier that day.

She whispered to me, "Thank you Seaweed Brain." Oh, how I loved it when she called me that.

"Of course, Wise Girl."

I then left, closing the door on my way out, and returned back to my bedroom. I did think about why Anna would possible dream that I would ever kill her though. Despite that, I had quite a peaceful rest. Annabeth didn't wake up in the middle of the night screaming and crying again which was good.

I woke up at nine the next day. Surprisingly, Annabeth wasn't up yet. Then I thought about it for a minute. _Duh, she's not used to this time zone. It's only six in San Francisco_. I got a bowl of cereal after watching about twenty – five minutes of television. She came padding into the kitchen at nine – thirty.

"Morning," I said to her as I looked up.

"Why, yes. Yes it is," she said being the wiseass she is. However, I only chuckled.

"I didn't really mean it so literal like that…"

"Oh, I know. Just thought I would have some fun with it."

I smiled and laughed at that. It's good to hear her joking again. She seemed extraordinarily happy this morning, which, in turn, made me happy as well. We were silent for a couple of minutes before I finally decided to break the silence.

"Do you want a bowl of cereal or something?" I offered her.

"Maybe later. I'm gonna grad a quick shower first, kay?" she asked.

"Yeah, sure."

She went back to her bedroom. Probably to grab her shampoo and stuff, I assumed. I heard her get in the shower and heard the most beautiful voice singing a rather depressing song.

_Do you know what it's like when _

_You're not who you wanna be_

_Do you know what it's like to_

_Be your own worst enemy_

_Who sees the things in me I can't hide_

_Do you know what it's like_

_To wanna surrender_

_I don't wanna feel like this tomorrow_

_I don't wanna feel like this today_

_Make me feel better, I wanna feel better_

_Stay with me here now and never surrender_

When she got out and got dressed a few minutes later, she came back into the kitchen. I just kind of sat there looking at her, smiling and laughing.

"What?" she half laughed.

"Do you always sing in the shower?"

She just sorta stood there like she hadn't a clue as to what I was referring to.

"Apparently," she said. I silently laughed.

"What was it that you were singing?"

"I don't know. I wasn't even aware that I was singing. If I was unaware of my singing. How could I possibly know what I was singing?"

It was a good question. "I don't know. You're Wise Girl. You always know everything. I was hoping you knew what you were singing."

"Maybe I can figure it out. How did it go?" she asked me.

I tried to think back and remember. "Something about you being your own worst enemy and surrendering or something like that. Which, to be honest, kind of scares me."

"Oh! Never Surrender by Skillet," she stated confidently. "It's a good song. I like it," she shrugged.

"Well, you sang it beautifully."

That mad things a little bit more awkward than normal. I don't think she knew quite how to respond based on her response.

"Uh, thanks? I think."

"You're welcome. So what do you wanna do today?"

"I hadn't really put much thought into what to do today, to be quite frank. In case you haven't noticed, Perce, I hadn't really put much thought into a lot of things in the past forty eight hours."

She had a valid point.

"That's true. Well, you should just take a day to relax and rest with the whole time zone change and all. I mean, you did lose like three hours of your day yesterday, technically."

"Yeah, I was thinking that myself…" she said as though she actually hadn't.

"And, you could call your parents and tell them you're alright. They're probably worried sick about you."

I admit, it was rather low. It was a lame attempt to get her to talk to me about what had happened and why she randomly showed up here. Don't get me wrong, I was glad she was back, but she seriously did need to talk. She had a lot of explaining to do. I could, though, tell that I had pissed her off.

"Hades no," she practically screamed at me. "I can't believe you would play that card, Perseus. I told you that I don't wanna talk about it. I'll tell you at some point though. I promise."

I had to make sure she meant it. I needed to know what went down in San Fran. I made her swear on it.

"Cross your heart and hope to die? Swear on the River Styx?"

"Cross my heart and hope to die. I swear on the River Styx that I will at some point tell you."

Little did I know how little she cared whether or not she kept the promise. I had no clue that she really did actually want to die…


	9. Chapter 9

**Thanks for reading you guys! This chapter is rather short as I just kind of wanted to get it over with. I had a lot of time to write it though but I didn't use it... I had DECA District Competition today and me and my partner didn't end up placing and making it to States which really upset me because I had set me hopes high which I will never do again by the way. So I didn't really have all that much motivation to write a lot for this chapter. I'm sorry guys :'(**

**TheAvidReader: The theatre kids at my school are total bitches (most of them) so I think I'll pass on befriending them. I also don't fit in with them so they don't really talk to me.. which i'm kinda okay with because i wouldn't wanna turn into one of them. I know! I totally forgot to put the disclaimer for the song lyrics which i meant to do but slipped my mind when i posted cuz i'm stupid. And, girl, that thing about the LotF reenactment... Nice. And i am a girl. don't worry. **

**Disclaimer: I do not own PJO or it's characters. **

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Chapter 9

**Annabeth POV**

The rest of the day we didn't talk all that much. Percy stayed in the living room and watched television and movies all day. I stayed in my room, door locked, and listed to my iPod for the whole entire day. The only time we talked and the only time I ever took out my ear buds was when he came to check on me and / or try to get me to eat something. It's not that we were fighting or anything, though. We just wanted to do separate things. He wanted to be out of his room (hell, probably even out of the apartment, but he wouldn't leave me alone for some reason) and I wanted to be alone in my room and blast music into my ears to try and drown the pain.

The next couple of days were like that too. For me though, I was trying to sort out my emotions and feelings for Percy. Hades, even my emotion and feelings toward life. I feel like Percy was changing my life and my outlook upon it a little bit. I didn't was to die as badly as usual now a days. I think coming back to New York was a good idea overall. I still am generally depressed for some reason though. I just don't know what to do. I still cut. It's getting harder to not eat even though I really want to since Percy I guess has a problem with me skipping a meal.

Over the next couple of weeks we stared talking again. He had his friends over a lot and introduced me to them. Apparently, after I left, he became good friends with Grover, Luke, Clarisse, Chris, Rachel, Silena, and Charlie. There was also Thalia and Nico who were his cousins. I almost felt replaced, but then I remembered that I was the one that left in the first place. I was glad though because this meant he was able to accept and move on unlike me.

I hung out with all of them with Percy though. I didn't really fit in with them, however. I wasn't super gorgeous like Silena. I wasn't as social as Rachel. I wasn't as strong and tough as Clarisse, Chris and Charlie. I didn't like Grover because he looked at me like I was some sort of outcast and he looked as if he knew what I did to myself. I wasn't as funny as Luke. I wasn't as clever and witty as Thalia. I wasn't as daring as Nico. I didn't fit in at all. It was like I was back in San Francisco again. I hated it. I wanted to die. Again. I guess there really is no escaping my depression.

I think Percy caught on, though. He started watching me more closely than he had before and I really didn't like it all that much. I did, however, think it was a nice gesture that showed that he cared for my well – being. I appreciated that much. And it's because he cared for me that he caught me that night…


	10. Chapter 10

**This chapter took forever to write. This is like THE chapter. It is not the last one though. There are still a few more to come. Thank you guys for your support and enthusiasm towards my story! 3**

**TheAvidReader: Yeah.. I totally screwed that sentence up! Thank you for pointing that out to me! I felt so stupid though! haha. I guess I should proof read closer. I went in and fixed it, though, just for you, loveyy. And good for you! (getting elected homecoming queen and all. that would never happen to me and in some ways i'm glad for that). **

**Disclaimer: I do not own PJO or its characters. ENJOY!**

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Chapter 10

**Annabeth POV**

_~Present Day~_

I stood there as he looked at me. I probably looked like shit. I was crying and in hysterics. In one hand, I held my knife. In the other, I had a fist full of pills in the other. He stood there, probably contemplating how to approach me. He was bewildered, surprised, and disappointed all at the same time. My arms were uncovered, so he could see my scars perfectly. To him, I probably looked shocked, since I never planned to let him see me like this.

His eyes motioned towards the bed. I complied with his wish and went to sit on my bed. I knew that he was now going to ask me why and what happened in San Fran. I didn't know what else he was going to ask and I kinda didn't want to. He came over carefully, as if I was going to hurt him or myself (again), and sat on my bed with me.

"How could you do this to yourself?" was his first question.

"Like this," I said and then placed the knife on my wrists and made yet another cut. This one bled pretty badly since it had gone into other cuts that had already scarred.

"Annabeth, stop!" he shouted at me.

He tried to take the knife away from me. I wouldn't let him though. I tried my best to not let him get it, but in the end he ended up taking it from me. He hit my arm that I had just made the cut on; I dropped the knife, grabbed my arm and screamed in pain. He tossed the knife where I couldn't reach it.

He held me while I sat there crying.

"I don't want to see you doing this to yourself ever again," he said to me.

"You wouldn't have seen it if you had just knocked on the door…"

"Not necessarily, Anna. I heard you crying and I saw you cross the hall holding your bleeding arm in your hand. I heard you wash your arm. And I also heard you get a glass of water, probably for the fist full of pills you had in your hand."

"Damn it. I knew I should have locked the door! It's just… I thought you were asleep and that you wouldn't hear me. Guess I was wrong… Again."

"Nooo. I'm glad that you forgot to lock the door."

"Why? You're the one who said that you didn't want to see me like this. If I had locked the door, you wouldn't have."

"Because, now I can get you to stop cutting yourself and taking pills."

"Percy, it's not gonna happen just like that. I have been so depressed for years. I've been cutting myself, taking pills, anorexic, and bulimic since I was about thirteen or fourteen. I've just become so dependent on these things for relief."

"Why? What happened, Annabeth? You have to tell me now. You can't keep pushing it and you can't keep pushing me away. Now, tell me what the hell happened."

"Just… Realization I suppose…" I half whispered.

"What, Anna Beth? What realization. I can't help you if you don't tell me."

"MAYBE I DON'T WANT HELP, PERCY," I shouted at him. I didn't even care that he had called me Anna Beth as two words. I cared about that he thought I needed saving. "I can save myself. I don't need anybody's help. I lost that when I lost you…"

"What the fuck are you talking about, Wise Girl? Can I still call you that, because cutting, pill taking, anorexia, and bulimia are not wise things to do?"

"I'm talking about San Francisco. I moved there and I had nothing. I had no friends, practically no family, and I didn't have you. No matter what I did, I could never make any friends. I didn't fit in with everybody else. I was such an outsider. All my parents did was work. They almost never even noticed me when I was there, so I'm sure they don't recognize my absence. When all of this just kind of hit me, I got so depressed. I couldn't handle it anymore. The constant feeling of knowing that I was always going to be alone and that it would always be that way. So, I finally told myself enough was enough. I picked up a knife and started making incisions on my arms and wrists. That's also the same day that I started taking pills. Anything to make me feel numb on the outside since I was already so numb on the inside. Soon after, I started starving myself. I would and do go up to four or five days without eating. When I would eat, I would make myself throw it back up. I took diet pills and everything. One night, the night before I got in New York, my parents finally noticed my presence for once and out of all the things they could have asked me, they decided to ask me why I hadn't any friends. After that, I bought a plane ticket here and now here I am. Then, when you introduced me to all of your new friends, I realized that you had such a better life than when I was here. I was an outsider with them too. Grover gave me a look that I really hated. It was like he knew what I had been doing to myself. I was nothing like any of the others. I don't fit in with your other friends, Perce. I know that. But, I mean, since I got here, I haven't been as depressed as normal but depression doesn't just go away. It stays forever. Lucky for you, you have been making it impossible for me to skip meals because you would flip out when I would try. And I think that's about it," I finished.

He sat there in silence, trying to process everything I had just told him. I could hardly believe it myself.

"Annabeth," he started, "I had no idea you felt that way and that all those things had happened. I'm so sorry."

"That doesn't change anything. I can't unlive the pain. And I didn't come here for sympathy either, Percy."

"I know. It's just, I don't really know what else to say. Why didn't you get help from someone? Anyone?"

"Nobody even knew I existed. Not even my teachers did. I couldn't get help. And to be quite honest, I didn't. I didn't wanna talk about it with anyone. This is the first time I have."

I was already in tears and he was still holding me. More like holding me back so I couldn't get my knife or pills back.

"When we get to school tomorrow, there's someone I want you to meet."

Fuck. I forgot school started tomorrow. It had totally escaped my mind. We were starting our Junior year tomorrow. Percy made sure we had all the same classes together, too. It was kind of sweet. I just hoped he didn't hate me for what he saw tonight. _What the hell_, I thought.

"Perce?"

"Yeah?"

"Do you hate me now?"

He looked astounded that I would make such an accusation.

"Hades no. I could never hate you, Annabeth"

We ended up falling asleep there, comfortably. _School starts tomorrow…,_ was my last thought before drifting off to sleep.


	11. Chapter 11

**OMG I HAVEN'T UPDATED IN SOOO LONG! I've been dealing with some shit in life, so I just haven't really had it in me to write another chapter until now. Thanks for hanging in there you guys! This chapter took me hours upon hours to write so I really do hope you like it. In this chapter you will be introduced to a new character briefly who will show up in later chapters thanks to TheAvidReader.**

**TheAvidReader: Here you are, cherié. A whole new chapter. And thank you for the suggestions about the t.v shows and most importantly the character! I do hope you enjoy, sweetheart.**

**Without further ado..**

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Chapter 11

**Annabeth POV**

Percy woke me up the next morning to get ready for school. It was my first day at Goode High School. Luckily for Percy and I, his mother's boyfriend was the principal, so we got all of our classes together. When I say all of our classes, I mean ALL of our classes. I have a feeling I'm never going to be alone or away from him unless we're at home and I'm sleeping or showering. On the other hand, though, I was glad I would never be alone because being too alone was the whole reason I had come here in the first place.

I got out of bed and went to grab a quick shower. After I showered and got dressed in a tank top with a light sweatshirt to hide the scars and cuts and a pair of athletic shorts, I went into the kitchen and met Percy, Sally, and Paul. There, sitting on the table, were waffles. But not just waffles… Blue waffles… I stood there looking at the quizzically. I guess they picked up on my look because Sally then explained it.

"Well, you see," she started, "Ever since he was a little boy he has loved the colour blue. So, as a result I have always made all of his food blue."

Come to think of it, I do believe I kind of remember him saying something about that when we were really little. But, I don't really know for certain. Anyways, we ate breakfast and then Percy and I took off for school. We drove in silence practically the whole way there. When we were turning into the Junior parking lot, Percy finally spoke.

"You're gonna love it here, Annabeth."

"Yeah, I'm sure," I said sort of distantly, staring off into space.

"Annabeth. Are you okay?" he asked, noticing my deliriousness.

"Yeah, I'm fine, Perce."

He looked into my eyes to see if I was lying, which I was, and he could tell. I'm sure that my eyes were clouding over and look like a storm is about to open up all Hades. Based on his facial expression, he didn't like what he was seeing and he hated that I point blank, blatantly lied to him.

"Come here, there's someone I want you to meet before we go to homeroom."

He practically dragged me into the building and down the hallway. We finally stopped when we came upon one of the prettiest girls I have ever seen. She was really short at her 5'0" compared to my 5'9". She had brown skin and black bouncy curls. She looked like she weighed 100 pounds, 105 tops she was so skinny. I looked into her laughing, cheerful eyes to see what I could tell about her. She looked like a pretty happy go lucky person. I could tell she would probably be a great friend, if we were friends. Her eyes screamed of good times, happiness, and a hint of mischief.

"Annabeth, this is Hayley Kay Lee. Hayley, this is Annabeth."

"Hi," I uttered to her.

She stood there staring at me as if trying to read me like I had just done to her. I didn't know her well enough to know what her facial expressions were trying to tell me. What I did notice, however, is that her eyes moved to my sweatshirt. More specifically, she was looking at my arms. Her face showed a quizzical expression.

"Hey. You know, it's going to be eighty degrees today and you are wearing a sweatshirt, right?"

I knew as soon as I put it on this morning how hot it was going to be but I could not risk someone seeing my arms. My secrets were my secrets and they weren't any of anyone's business. My life was my business and nobody else's… Except maybe Percy's.

"What I'm wearing is absolutely none of your business, bitch," I spat at her.

"Annabeth-," Percy started.

"Don't! Percy," I cut him off.

I turned and walked away. It took me a moment, but I finally realized that I had absolutely no idea as to where I was going. This school was foreign to me. Luckily, though, there was no way Percy was ever going leave me alone after the talk we had last night. He came running up to me probably to yell at me then see if I was okay.

"Anna! What the Hades was that?!" he screamed at me, and like that my defenses were up mentally and physically.

"What!? My life and my secrets are MY business. Not yours and definitely not hers."

He stood there with the most stunned look lain upon his face, but in actuality what I had said is true. It really wasn't any of his business. Any of it. It was nice that he cared, but honestly, it was my life, not his.

"Well, uh, it kind of is my business since I walked in on you trying to take a fist full of pills and kill yourself."

"No. Even then, it's still none of your business. It's MY life to take, not yours. There are choices in life, Percy, and that was mine. And I could damn well try to do it again if I so choose. Not everything in life is black and white. There's a grey area. This is one of those areas. You can't look after me forever, Perce."

After I finished that sentence, the bell rang with perfect timing. He showed me to homeroom. I could tell I pissed him off, but he needs to face the truth. Percy still chose to sit next to me in every single class though.

The bell for lunch rang after 3rd period since we had 3rd lunch. Percy dragged me into the cafeteria to eat lunch with him and his friends. After a while, Silena asked me why I was wearing a sweatshirt on such a hot day. When she asked this, Percy got this "Oh no, not this again" look on his face. However, he didn't need to worry. I simply got up and left. Well I practically ran out of the cafeteria door, but that's beside the point. I went into the woods behind the school. I didn't care if Percy followed me or not. It didn't matter.

When I got to the woods, I took off my sweatshirt. I didn't have my knife since I was at school. I looked around frantically for something sharp. Then it hit me: use my fingernail. I dug my fingernail into my arm and tried to make a cut. It took a while but I did it. It felt good too. But, to tell the truth, this was becoming really addicting. I almost depended on cutting myself. There was nothing I could really do about that now though, I guess.

After a while, I went back into the cafeteria. I had my sweatshirt back on so nobody could tell what I had just done. After a few minutes of silence, Percy looked over to me. I hadn't a clue as to what they had previously been discussing. I just stared at him. He looked as if he was trying to read me, find out where I was, what I was doing. I stared at him with a blank expression on my face hoping he couldn't tell. He tried looking for other indicators of anything and I guess he found one.

"Annabeth, can I speak with you for a sec?"

"What?"

"Alone."

With that, we got up and stood outside of the cafeteria.

"Where the fuck did you go?" he asked me, clearly irritated.

"Why does it matter?" I asked, getting pissed.

"Because, there is blood on your sweatshirt."

Fuck. Totally didn't expect that. Nor did I expect he'd look at my arms, although I should have. I felt so ashamed. Ashamed of what I had done, ashamed of who I was, what I was. I was a monster. I didn't want to be a monster but it was who I was. I couldn't take it anymore. I burst into tears. He pulled me in for a hug and just stood there hugging me until the tears stopped. He asked me to lift up my sweatshirt sleeve so he could see. I did as he asked. He saw in and looked at me rather confused.

"How did you manage to make a cut without your knife?"

"Well, I ran into the woods and looked for something and when I couldn't find anything I figured out I could just use my nails to cut myself."

"Are you that desperate to cut, Anna Beth?"

"Apparently."

"You're addicted, Wise Girl. You're addicted to cutting yourself. You're addicted to pain killers. Why, Anna? Why?"

"I already told you, Percy. We aren't ever talking about it again, either unless absolutely necessary. Am I clear?"

When I finished, the bell rang to go to our last class. Latin. My favourite, actually. Too bad our teacher was a little too observational…


	12. Chapter 12

**Hello again, my lovelies! Thank you for being so patient with my writing these past few days. I've been thinking about a lot and I've been thinking maybe a little too much for a little too long. Thank you all who have been reviewing for your reviews and a special shout out (as always) to TheAvidReader who has read and reviewed for basically all my chapters. Je t'aime! Et je suis une fille... En lycée. Je ne suis pas 40, chérie. **

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Chapter 12

**Annabeth POV**

I love Latin. It's my favourite class. Always had been, always will be. I was fairly excited when I entered our Latin class, needless to say. I was even more ecstatic when our teacher, Mr. Brunner, told us we already had assigned seats. However, to my disappointment, he had chosen Percy and me to be seated together. I was hoping to finally get away from him. Don't get me wrong, I love Percy, but now I would literally be spending at least ninety percent of my time with him.

Since we were juniors this was our third year of taking Latin. Latin 3… Honours. Mr. Brunner introduced himself to the class and introduce the subject.

"Salve, alumnis. ego sum Mr. Brunner et hoc est latinam tres. hoc est honores cursum, ita, si vos sentio vos non potestis praestare honores campester, stillabunt genere nunc dum habes casu." **(Hello, students. I am Mr. Brunner and this is Latin three. It is an honours class, so if you feel you cannot perform to the honours level, drop the class now while you have the chance.)**

I looked over at Percy. Not because I can't perform at the honours level, but because I'm not sure that he can. But, then again, what do I know? I've been in California the past five years.

"Quid? Ego sum excellerem in Latina!" **(What? I'm excellent at Latin!")**

"Ego sum imprimatur." **(I'm impressed.)**

To start off the class and the new school year, Mr. Brunner made us all stand up and say something about ourselves or something of that nature. My turn came to stand up and say something. I stood there and pondered for a minute about what to say. Thought I'd say something that's true whether it pissed the teacher off or not.

"Ego sum Annabeth et ego realiter odio id assignatione et invenies eum nullum punctum." **(I'm Annabeth and I really hate this assignment and find it no have no point.)**

"Omni jure tunc…," was the response Mr. Brunner gave me while the students gave me a deranged look like I was some weird, crazy, and unstable person. But, I suppose they were actually right about that assumption.

Percy stood up next only to say "Ego sum Percy et ego modi conveniunt cum Annabeth in hoc uno." **(I am Percy and I sort of agree with Annabeth on this one.)**

I looked over to him and mouthed thank you. He cared enough to help me not look deranged and unstable. He just nodded his head in acknowledgement to my thanks and we went on with class. After an agonizingly long hour and a half of Latin, it was finally time to go home. Percy and I were just about to walk out the door when Mr. Brunner called me over to his desk.

"Go ahead, Perce. I'll catch up."

"Okay," he replied sort of reluctantly. "See you at the car." With that, he walked out of the door and made his way to the Junior lot.

"Yes, sir?" I asked Mr. Brunner sort of annoyed.

"Explain your answer to my question from the beginning of class, please."

Shit. I didn't really want to. I didn't really know what to say to him without disrespecting him or anything and that's really not what I meant to do.

"Well, sir. You see, if I wanted someone to know something about me, I would go up to them and tell them personally. My life is nobody else's business at all. Not the classes, not yours, only mine."

After I had gotten that out of my system, I sighed, my eyes clouding over, and started to leave the classroom.

"Oh, and Annabeth?" Mr. Brunner called out to me.

"Yeah?"

"There's blood on the sleeve of your sweatshirt. Just thought you ought to know."

I sighed a tad dramatically.

"I know!"

I turned, left the room for real this time and went to go find Percy in the Junior parking lot. He was standing next to his car talking to someone. I got a little closer and he saw me… And I saw her. It was Hayley. I really didn't want to talk to her about anything at all and I was tired of Percy trying to get me to.

"Hey, Annabeth! Just talking to Hayley," he said to me. Then, in a hinting sort of way he added, "Care to join in to the conversation."

"Nope," I said, popping the P as I spoke.

I really don't understand why he wants me to talk to this chick so badly. Maybe she is cool, maybe she isn't. Truth is though, I really don't give a shit. I just don't want to discuss anything with this girl. I think Perce just wants me to open up and have some friends, but I don't want to. It is my life he's trying to tamper with after all.

"I'm not starting this car until you talk to her. And I don't just mean a simple hello. I mean an actual conversation," he said totally killing what I was going to do so we could just go home already.

"Fine. I guess I'll just walk home. It doesn't make a difference to me."

I started walking out of the Junior lot.

"Anna Beth! Get back here!" I heard Percy shout.

"I'll see you at home, Perseus."

I hear Hayley say something to him that sounded like, "It's okay. She doesn't have to talk to me Percy."

I turned back, saw her walking away, and Percy get into his car. He came up and parked beside where I was walking in the curb.

"Come on Anna, get in."

"I'm fine, Perseus."

"Then look me in the eyes and tell me that."

He knew as well as I did that I couldn't do that, so I just got in the car avoiding all eye contact with him. After a while he said something.

"Why won't you just talk to Hayley, Annie?"

"I know what you're trying to do, Perseus. You're trying to get me to open up and make some new friends and all that kind of shit. But, don't, Perce. It's my life you're tampering with. Let me live the life I wanna live, not the one you try to set me up with."

"In the life YOU want to live, you would be dead right now," he said with a mix of sadness and anger.

"And that's my choice," I mumbled back to him.

_Choice. _ That word kept ringing about in my head. I could still end it all. It was my choice. I reflected upon this until we got home. I reflected upon everything. Choice, my life, my past, everything. And that's when I made up my mind. My mind was set. I had made my choice…


	13. Chapter 13

**Sorry that I've only been updating every other day guys! I'm also sorry that I kind of half assed this chapter. For all of you who are sticking with me, I love you all! 3 If this chapter sucks, I apologize. **

**TheAvidReader: Je t'adore! 3 vous êtes le meilleur!**

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Chapter 13

**Annabeth POV**

It had been one week since I had made up my mind and made the choice that I would attempt suicide again. I knew it would be difficult. For the past week, I had been acting as if nothing was wrong which caused Percy to give me strange looks quite frequently, for which, I don't really blame him. If I were him, I'd give me weird looks too. I went from super depressed to acting like nothing had ever happened and almost like normal Annabeth before the move to Cali. I'm not sure if Percy bought it or not, but the others did.

For a while I felt like I was really fitting in and actually making friends. That's when I would remember what I was going to do. However, the thing that totally blew my mind and shocked me was what Luke did. One day, after school, Luke came up to me and Percy while we were walking to the car.

"Yo, guys! Wait up!" he called out to us.

Percy and I stopped to turn around and saw Luke running up to us. We didn't exactly know what for and he and I exchanged confused glances.

"Annabeth, can I talk to you for a sec?"

"Um, yeah, sure, okay," I said glancing at Percy uneasily.

I walked over to meet Luke near the gymnasium's front entrance.

"Yeah, Luke?"

"Annabeth, I want to ask you something."

"Uh, okay…?"

"Well, uh, Annabeth, I know we haven't really known each other for a super long time, but uh…," he started.

_Oh, gods. He's gonna ask me out_, I thought to myself. _I didn't come here to make friends or even to get a boyfriend. I came here to get away from Cali and depression. And I especially cannot have a boyfriend if I'm going to kill myself. Maybe if I get a boyfriend though, I won't have to kill myself. Maybe I'll find true happiness…_

"So, Annabeth, will you go out with me?" he asked.

"What? Huh? Sorry, I kind of zoned out for a second there."

"Go out with me, Annabeth? Please?"

I have to admit, he was rather handsome and I did kind of like him. _What the hell_, I thought. _I already want to kill myself, so what could happen that's worse_?

"Yes. I will go out with you, Luke."

We walked back to Percy, hand in hand. Percy eyed our hands together and I saw pure anger in his eyes. I had never seen his eyes like that before. Ever. I almost felt bad that Luke and I were causing that look, but I don't know why Percy was angry that Luke and I were together. I would have thought that he would be happy that I was starting to find happiness instead of being depressed and suicidal.

We got back to Percy's car and I said goodbye to Luke and got inside the car. Percy, however, stayed for a moment, and talked with Luke. I overheard their conversation, though, unknown to them.

"What the Hell, man!" Percy whisper yelled to Luke, thinking I couldn't hear them. \

"Sorry, Perce."

"No you're not! You knew I like her and yet you still ask her out."

"Sorry, Percy," Luke smirked.

"Just know that if you hurt her, I'll kick your fucking ass," Percy said walking away from Luke and got into the car.

We drove home in silence. Come to think of it, after Luke and I started dating, Percy and I never really talked much. We talked in our classes a little bit, but only when we had to for assignments. Other than that, it's like I was invisible to him, too. I tried to talk to him, but he wouldn't acknowledge my presence. Weeks went by like this.

It was almost Thanksgiving Break and Percy and I haven't talked in almost a month outside of class assignments. Tomorrow would be the first day of break which I think we were all thankful for. However, that may have been the worst day of Junior year for me. Percy and I were walking to our car as usual when Luke called me over. I walked over with a smile on my face, but there wasn't a smile on his. His face was sullen and otherwise non emotional.

"Annabeth, we need to talk," he said sternly.

"Yeah, babe?"

"I think we need to break up."

"Beg your pardon?"

"I'm breaking up with you, Annabeth."

"Great. As if I didn't have enough reasons to want to die…"

"Then go," he said, turned, and walked away.

I knew I was about to cry. I could feel it in my eyes, head, and throat. I walked over to Percy's car and opened the door. As I was taking out my iPod I started to talk briefly to him.

"Hey, Perce?"

"Yeah?"

"I think I'm gonna walk home," I said, about to burst out crying. A tear had escaped my eye, though. I had to get out of there fast.

"What happened, Anna Beth?"

"See you at home, Perseus," I said running from the car and out of the parking lot.

_Then go_… Those words kept ringing in my head as I started my long journey home…

* * *

**Percy POV**

Annabeth ran away from the car crying. I didn't really know why, but I think I could assume correctly. I quickly got out of the car and ran to find Luke. I knew he was the last person that she talked to, so he had to be why she was crying. I finally caught up with him in the gym lobby.

"Luke! You asshole get over here!" I yelled to him.

"What do you want, Jackson?"

"I'm gonna kick your ass."

"Oh yeah?"

"What the hell did you say and / or do to Annabeth?"

"I told her I was breaking up with her."

"And what did she say?"

"Something like 'Great. As if I didn't have enough reasons to wanna die.' Or something like that."

"Any you said…?"

"I believe I said 'Then go.'"

"God dammit!"

"What's the big deal? Didn't you want me to not go out with her in the first place anyways?"

I couldn't deal with his douchebaggery right now. I had to find Annabeth right now. But before I did, I couldn't help it. I punched Luke square in the face and kicked him in the nuts.

'Then go'… I had a feeling she just might act upon that and I wasn't going to let that happen. I had to get to Annabeth and quick.


	14. Chapter 14

**Hey guys, sorry for this super short chapter (action wise) that I'm posting. To make it up to you, I will be posting multiple chapters today! **

**TheAvidReader: You didn't review chapter thirteen. Je suis triste :( **

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Chapter 14

**Annabeth POV**

I walked home rather quickly. I could not believe what had just happened. Well, the break up part I could believe. I don't really know why Luke would want to date me in the first place. He never even told me. I wondered if that was his plan the whole time because I honestly couldn't think of a reason that he, or anybody for that matter, would want to go out with me.

I didn't come to Manhattan to find a boyfriend or friends. I came back here to escape myself. I came here to try to avoid situations like the one Luke just put me in. I have now made the biggest mistake ever. I started to fall for someone. I started to fall for Luke and I know I shouldn't have. I was so stupid!

And, to top it all off, Luke heard me mutter that I wanted to die. And he told me to go. That was the best advice anyone had ever given me. I'm not one for following others' advice, hell I'm not the one to even ask for their advice, but this was single handedly the most valuable piece of advice I'd received form anyone in a long time.

I got to the apartment and thankfully I beat Percy home. I found that to be super odd since he had the car and I was walking. It definitely did not compute in my head, that's for sure. Sally and Paul were still at work (thank gods), so this was going to be rather easy.

I went straight into my room and over to my dresser where I had stored some things that I couldn't exactly have Percy and his family see. I sifted through a few of the drawers and finally found a pill bottle full of pills. Some of them were mixed. I made sure to put in some pills that could be deadly if combined so I could easily kill myself without having to take a gajillion pills.

I went and grabbed a glass of water out of the kitchen. I went back into my room, took the pills, and lay down on my bed to wait for the pills to take effect. I'm not really sure about how long I was lying there, though. All I remember is Percy rushing through the door shouting my name. Then, everything went black…

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**Percy POV**

I made my way from the gym lobby to my car, sprinting the whole way. I had to make it home before Annabeth. I knew she was gonna try to kill herself again based upon what Luke said happened. He told her to go after she said she wanted to kill herself. I knew she was going to at the very least attempt. I couldn't let her succeed no matter what.

I sped home. If I were a cop and saw someone driving this fast, I would, without a doubt, pull him or her over and give them a ticket. Thankfully, though, I didn't run into any cops on the way back to the apartment. I wasn't sure if I was going to beat Annabeth back to the apartment. I had a feeling, however, that she had beaten me back. I didn't see her while I was driving home. It makes sense seeming as though I had left a good ten minutes at least after her and she was literally running and it looked like she was never going to stop until she got back into the apartment.

I finally got back to the apartment. When I did, I saw a shadow in the apartment. Annabeth. I got out of the car and started running up the stairs to the apartment. However, I got there a little too late. I didn't hear her moving around when I got to the door of the apartment. That scared me way too much.

I opened the door and called out to her.

"Annabeth!"

I didn't hear a response, though. I went down the hall and to her bedroom. Her door was open for a change. But I didn't like what I saw. Annabeth was lying on her bed, immobile. There was also a note.

_Hey, Perce. Looks like I beat you home. To be quite honest, I'm thankful for that. I appreciate you putting up with me for the past few months. You took me in when I had nowhere left to go. I would say no questions asked, but you did ask. Too persistently and too often, quite frankly. I know you were probably just trying to prevent situations like this, but it was my story to tell when I wanted to tell. I feel as though you rushed me to tell you. But, that's not why I did this. I did this to escape my past. Escape myself. I'm sorry, Percy. Don't get too upset over this. If I were you, I would actually be quite happy that I died. I left without telling you five years ago, Percy. I have never been able to forgive myself for that. You already know what happened back in San Francisco. I don't think I need to tell you all of that again. I don't think I have it in me to even write it. It's too painful. When I came here and you took me in, I thought I could start a new life, not be who I was, or what I was for that matter, in California. It didn't work out how I thought it would. Grover looked at me like he knew all of my secrets. I wasn't as pretty as Silena. I wasn't as social as Rachel. Wasn't as strong and tough and Clarisse, Chris, and Charlie. I wasn't as clever and witty as Thalia and I definitely wasn't as daring as Nico. And I wasn't as funny as Luke. Luke. He's part of this now. I didn't mean to come back to New York to meet friends or get a boyfriend. I came to run from everything. Then Luke came along. I don't know why he ever asked me out. If I had to guess, I'd say it was to get to you. I saw the way your eyes looked when you saw us holding hands. I know you didn't like it. I'm sorry. I shouldn't have said yes to him. I know that now. I never expected that I'd come here and fall for someone, let alone him. Then, he said something when we broke up. "Then go." Those words rang in my head until I got home this afternoon. Now, I had already decided I was going to kill myself prior to dating Luke. I knew I had a choice. This was mine. Remember the fight we had in the car the other week about my life being my choices? This is my choice. I couldn't live with myself anymore. I'm sorry, Percy. I know you wanted to help, but I don't think I wanted any. My mind was set, so it wouldn't have done much anyway. You know how I get when my mind is made. It's pretty hard to change it. I'm so sorry that I didn't say goodbye in person to you. I wish I had. But our last words that we spoke to each other this afternoon before I ran? I knew they would be our last. Everyone I spoke to today, I knew they would be the last conversations I had. Or some of the last anyways. I knew I was going to commit suicide, I just didn't know when. But now I do. There were so many factors in this decision. You never could have made the list of why I killed myself. You would have been a reason to stay alive, but there were too many reasons to die. I love you, Percy. And if you really love me, you'll realize that I did this to come to peace with myself. I did this to find peace. Let me have my peace, please. I'll see you in many years. I'll miss you. And thank you, Percy. Also, do me a favor? Thank Luke for me. He has allowed me to find peace as he was part of the decision to kill myself. This was such a hard decision considering you, but I needed peace. I'll always love you, Percy._

_-Annabeth xoxo_

I couldn't believe what I had just read. I frantically check Annabeth for a pulse. She still had one. Thank gods. I picked her up bridal style and went to the car. I had to get her to a hospital and fast…


	15. Chapter 15

**Hello, my loves! Told you I would be uploading more than once today! Again, sorry this chapter kinda sucks. I don't think it's half bad, but I can't necessarily speak for you. At the end you may start thinking that this is it for this story, but I just want you to know that it is far from done! Still lots more things to cover. Hope you enjoy and think it doesn't suck! Oh, and uh, Happy Holidays! I will be uploading during the holidays, so if you don't read it immediately as soon as I upload, trust me, it's okay. Take this time to be with family and friends. If you do read during the holidays, then even better! Now on with the show, lovelies!**

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Chapter 15

**Percy POV**

I got her to the hospital extremely fast. They took her immediately. Her pulse was dropping rapidly. They didn't know if they were going to be able to save her. They were doing everything they could though. I was so nervous and scared. I was sitting in the waiting room for hours before a doctor came out and talked to me.

"Is someone here for Annabeth Chase?" she asked.

I shot up.

"I am going to assume that you are based upon your reaction."

"Yeah."

"Well, we've manage to stabilize her pulse. However, she isn't responding. She is in a coma. We haven't a clue when she'll come out. I think it's best you go back home. Seeing her right now will no good. I'll be watching over Annabeth until she comes out of her coma. We suspect she won't be out for a few days based upon the pills that she took, so she won't be home for Thanksgiving. Annabeth will be my only case until she comes out of her coma."

That didn't particularly make me feel any better.

This was gonna be difficult to explain to my mom and Paul…

* * *

**Monday**

**Percy POV**

Annabeth has been in a coma for almost a week, now. I could only assume that she was still alive. I hoped against hope that she was. I don't know what I would do if she died. I didn't even want to think about it.

It was our first day back at school from Thanksgiving break. Annabeth isn't the kind of person to miss school, but, hey, at the moment, it's not like she really had a choice. School went by really slow since all I could do all day was think about Annabeth. Not a lot of people outside of our group asked about her, except for teachers of course.

I just told everybody that she couldn't come, which was true, technically. Life was so boring without her here. It was like when she left for California before sixth grade except, this time she left a note. It explained everything. I thought about her note all day. All she was doing was trying to find peace. She was trying to escape herself. But, there were still so many unanswered questions. Like, why couldn't she confide in me? Or Hayley? Or anybody, really?

Days went on like this. It wasn't until Thursday that I heard from the hospital. After school, while I was walking to my car, I got a call saying that Annabeth had finally come out of her coma. It's been over a week. I was so happy to her that she had finally woke up.

I immediately rushed to the hospital to see her. Her doctor met me in the waiting room and took me back to see her. She looked so week and fragile. She looked like that if anyone touched her, she would break into a million pieces. She weakly turned towards me. An expression came across her face briefly as if to say "oh shit". And ya know what? Oh shit is right.

"Annabeth…" I started, not really sure as to where I was going to take this.

"…Percy…" she started to say, trying to talk despite how hard it was for her because of the oxygen tubes and everything else attached to her trying to keep her awake and living.

"No, Annabeth. Don't talk, you'll probably hurt yourself more. Just listen for a minute, okay?" I asked.

She nodded in agreement implying that she could do that.

"You scared the Hades out of me, Anna. I went to find Luke after you left to find out what he did to you and he told me what happened. It was the last thing that clued me in that you would be going home to probably kill yourself. I know he told you to go, Anna. I punched him in the face and kicked him where it counts when he told me this. I got home just in time to read your note and get you here. Do you even know how long you've been out?"

She shook her head in a no motion and moved her hands as if to say I don't know.

"Over a week. You've been in a coma for nine fucking days, Annabeth! Why the hell would you do something like this? And before you ask it or say it, yes I did read the note, but there are so many questions left unanswered that need an answer, Annabeth. Now, do you think you can do me a favor and answer those questions for me?"

"I guess. I mean, at this point I guess I owe you."

"So, why, Annabeth? Why do something like this?"

"I needed to find peace with myself and that's something I couldn't do alive, I suppose."

"Why couldn't you confide in me? Or Hayley? Or anyone at all?"

"I couldn't confide in you because you're my best friend and I didn't want to fuck everything up with this in case I didn't die. I didn't want a situation like this. And I couldn't and wouldn't confide in Hayley because honestly, this is none of her business at all. I don't particularly come here to make friends, Perce. Just like the note said, I just came here to try to escape myself. I didn't want help. And it wouldn't have helped anyway because I had already made up my mind."

By the time she was done, I could tell she was in pain from trying to talk for so long. I didn't like to see her in pain. It near killed me (metaphorically speaking, I guess) and I absolutely hated it. She started to doze off again, so I left and let her be. If what she said in her note was true, I didn't want to push her too hard again. I loved her way too much to be able to do that. While, yes, I wanted to know what was going in inside of her head, I didn't wanna push too hard and make her suicidal again. I knew the doctors weren't going to let her come home until next week at the earliest. It was the longest week of my life.


	16. Chapter 16

**It has been soo long such I updated you all! I've missed my little lovelies. But, I'm back so no need to fear or be sad! **

**TheAvidReader: Je suis americaine! Et joyeux noël à toi! Je t'adore!**

**Frufru: Yo no creo que en realidad, tu estás leyondo esta cuenta! BTW necisitamos pasar tiempo juntas! Te amo, chica!**

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Chapter 16

**Percy POV**

I went to the hospital to visit Annabeth every single day until she was out of the hospital. She was in the hospital for a total of two weeks. Today, she was able to come home which made us all very happy. The doctors put gauze and bandages over her arms and wrists. School was going to be difficult for her these next few weeks. Everybody will ask her where she had been and why her arms are covered with bandages. I just need to keep her from killing everyone, but, more importantly, herself.

That night, I made sure to take the medicine she was prescribed. Her doctor put her on lithium to stabilize her emotions and stuff like that. She also had to take fluoxetine for her depression and bulimia. She took them with barely any objections. Barely. She thought she was fine again and tried to persuade me that she was, but I knew she wasn't and I knew she needed to take the pills.

I woke her up the next morning and made her take her pills which she protested less about today for some reason. But, hey, as long as she takes the pills, right?

We got to school and Anna received some stares that probably made her want to go on a killing spree. She was getting angrier by the minute; I could see it in her eyes.

"Easy there, Annabeth," I told her, trying to calm her down, putting my arm around her. I felt her relax a little.

"Sorry, Perce."

"Don't be sorry. It's okay."

We went to first period, AP English III. When people saw her they would turn to one of their friends and start whispering. _Wow, that's not obvious at all, assholes_, I thought to myself. It was one of the rudest things I had ever seen. Our teacher, Mr. Perkins, noticed, but didn't really say anything or make a big deal out of it. All he did was ask her where she was and what had happened to which she didn't answer at all. I gave him a look and he immediately understood what I was trying to tell him. People constantly stared at her throughout class. She acted like she didn't notice them, but I know she did. It was hard not to.

We went on to second period silently since there wasn't much to talk about and what I did want to talk about would probably piss her off. Before class started, our Physics teacher, Mrs. Elder, motioned Annabeth over. I went with her to help her out or translate her facial expressions and whatnot since I wasn't exactly sure if she was speaking at all today.

"Um, ya know what, Percy. I got this. I can talk to her about this. Or at least where I have been and what happened. I can do this, Perce," Annabeth told me when she noticed me following her to Mrs. Elder's desk. I nodded and let her go.

"Yes ma'am?"

"Where have you been, dear? You haven't been in class in six days."

"I've been in the hospital for the past two weeks," Annabeth said with a hint of pain in her voice.

"What happened?"

I looked at Annabeth and she looked at me, not sure what to say. Then an idea came upon her. She turned back to the teacher and said, "Let's just say that some pills aren't meant to mix whether you do it intentionally or accidentally."

I have to admit, I was impressed with how she had handled that. I figured her pride would have gotten in the way of her confessing, even partially, to what she had done. I could tell by her voice saying though that she was not proud at all of what she had done.

"I heard pain in your voice when you told her, Annie."

"Well, it's not like it was the smartest thing I had ever done, Perseus. I felt like the right thing to do at the time. But, I don't regret it. At all. If that's what you were wondering."

"Well, admittedly, I was a little curious about that and I think I understand, but I'm done assuming what you're thinking and what is going on inside your head."

"That's almost rude, Seaweed Brain. Almost. But, truth be told, I'd like to know what goes on inside my head also."

"What do you mean?" I started to ask, but got interrupted by the bell signaling the start of class.

I never got my question answered during second period because Annabeth has this little rule of hers that is only really existent in her head. Her rule? No talking during class unless instructed to do so. Also, she will never talk off topic during class. Such a Wise Girl…

Physics went by really fast in general, but rather slow for me since she wouldn't talk. When I say she wouldn't talk, I mean she absolutely refused. I asked her for help and all she did was nod. I don't know with her anymore, sometimes.

On our way to third period, Technical Theatre, we did talk a little bit. She tried her best to dodge my question from second period, but I wasn't going to let her. She was about to walk into the auditorium, but I blocked her way, grabbed her wrists, and dragged her down the hall a little bit.

"Ow! Percy let go of my wrists! That hurts!" she practically screamed and by the look of her face and in her eyes, I could tell she was in pain.

"Oh my gods. I'm sorry, Annabeth. I didn't mean to – "

"Yeah, whatever, Perce. What the fuck do you want? We have to get the class."

Ironically enough, right as she said that, the bell initiating the start of third period rang. She turned to go, but I grabbed her by her waist and pulled her back.

"Oh, no ya don't. Get back here Annabeth."

"What Percy!"

"Answer my question."

"What question?!"

"The one I started to ask before Physics started."

"Which was?"

"What do you mean you would like to know what goes on inside of your head?"

Her eyes clouded over a little bit. She was thinking. And by the looks of it, they weren't the happiest thoughts in the world. After a moment she started to speak, choosing her words carefully.

"Well… It's just… I've haven't necessarily been thinking everything I do through, you see. Pretty much everything I have done in the past couple of years has been acted upon by impulse. The only thing I've actually thought through and planned since, like, ninth grade has been my suicide, and I can't even do THAT right," she said sitting on a nearby bench, close to tears.

I went over and sat down next to her. I put my arm around her trying to calm her down. She sunk into my arms and started crying into my chest.

"Annabeth, you did it right. If you did it wrong, I wouldn't have had to rush home, only to find you slipping into a coma on you bed, dying. You did it right, I just came and interrupted your perfect suicide."

"Why?"

"Why what?"

"Why did you come and 'save' me? If you read my note, you should have understood. Why did you come and take away my attempt at peace?"

"Because, Annabeth, I've already lost you once. I'm not gonna let it happen again. And this time, I wouldn't have had any chance at getting you back. I would die if I lost you permanently, Anna."


	17. Chapter 17

**Hey guys! Sorry I've been gone for so long. I took me way too long to write this. The Holidays came then there was New Years. I got too depressed to write this at one point, but I came back. I feel terrible that I haven't updated in so long and I'm soo sorry to all of those reading. **

**TheAvidReader: Yes, ma chérie, I'm back! And don't worry, I was stuffing my face on Christmas too! You're not alone! :) **

**Thank you all for all of the reviews. Love you all!**

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Chapter 17

**Annabeth POV**

Well, this moment was delightfully awkward, if I do say so myself. I didn't really know how to reply. Come to think of it, I didn't really know what he was saying. In a way, I sort of did, but then again, I didn't at the same time. I hope you know what I mean because I certainly don't.

"Percy, what are you saying? Because I don't exactly know. I'm afraid I don't quite comprehend."

He sighed and thought it out for a minute or two.

"I've lost you once, Annabeth. Thankfully it wasn't forever," he started. "I could have lost you forever this time though, right?"

"Yeah. That was the plan, Percy."

"Exactly. I don't know what I would have done, Anna. What I do know is that I would become depressed as all hell. How far would I have gone with that? I don't know. But essentially, I would become... You."

"That almost hurt, Jackson."

"I don't think I would ever be able to love again either."

I took a minute to think all of this through. Ya know, let it all sink in. I didn't necessarily think about that you see. I just thought that I had to get out of this existential hell. However the knowledge seeking side of me had to know something no matter how morbid it sounded.

"So, you're saying that I should have stayed in California?"

"Gods no."

"But if I had you wouldn't be so upset about it. Hell, you probably wouldn't even find out whether or not I died. Either way it's my life to take."

"I don't want you dead, Annabeth. In New York or California."

"But if I killed myself there, you wouldn't be as upset as you would be right now."

"You know what? Yeah you're probably right about that. But you have no idea how grateful I am that you came back."

"Oh and what did you mean by you would never be able to love AGAIN?"

"Really?"

"Yeah."

He sighed.

"I love you, Annabeth. Despite all of his shit I love you."

It took a minute for it to sink in. I didn't have any idea why he loved me but I knew that I loved him too.

"Percy," I started. "You shouldn't."

"I shouldn't what?"

"You shouldn't love me."

"Why not?"

"Because, Percy, I'm a mess. I'm a monster. All I do is cause pain to those around me. I don't want you to get hurt, Perce. Now come on, we're… fifteen minutes late for Technical Theatre."

With that, I stood up from the bench and walked into the auditorium, slipping into the light booth. I already knew most of what we had been doing prior to Thanksgiving break and I know what they're talking about now, thank gods. They were speaking of recording lights so we don't have to do it manually later. Best invention ever.

When she was done instructing the others, she called me and Perce over and asked us where we had been. More specifically, where I had been for the past two weeks. Percy pretty much answered for me which really pissed me off. It made me angry and upset. I really just wanted to punch him or something. We went through the rest of class working on our lighting project pretty much in silence, which is quite amazing since working on this project practically requires talking to your partner.

We were on our way to fourth period when Percy started a conversation.

"You're not a monster, Annie. A mess, maybe. But, definitely not a monster."

"Percy, just look at what I have done. To myself. To you. I've caused nothing but pain. Pain when I left and pain now."

"I moved on eventually, though. The pain didn't last long. I became numb to it. It seemed like it was gone, but it wasn't and subconsciously I knew it still there. And the pain now, isn't going to last as I'm going to help you. I'm going to help you get through this, Anna. I just have some questions, though. Do you mind answering them?"

"I suppose not."

"Why didn't you try to stay? Stay for me. Stay alive, I mean."

I took a few moments and thought this over. He and I were standing in the hall and the bell had just rung. I didn't really mind that we were going to be late for class this time though. I figured it was going to be happening a lot nowadays.

"Well, the only thought that was ever in my mind was 'I have to get out of here. This isn't my place. I don't belong. This is all just an existential Hell.' I did think about you though. The only thing I could think, though, was that I was just going to keep causing you pain and sadness and I couldn't do that to you, Percy. It kills me knowing that that is all that I am. To anyone. I try to get along with your friends and act "natural", whatever the fuck that is in this place. But, I guess they just don't understand people like me."

"I do. Or, at least, I'm trying to. But, you gotta help me out here, Annabeth. You gotta let me in. And, by the way, I don't care if I should or shouldn't. I love you."

I paused for a minute, unsure what to say.

"I think I love you too."

We walked in to Latin only a few minutes after the bell. Mr. Brunner looked at us and nodded like he knew what had just happened. I looked towards Percy.

"Ego indicavit ei Omnia." **(I told him everything.)**

Class went by quickly. Thank gods. I wasn't mad that Percy had told Mr. B what happened because, in all honesty, I thought Mr. Brunner was pretty cool. I felt like I could trust him. At least, that's what I had thought. But, I may have been wrong…


	18. Chapter 18

**Hey guys! Again, sorry for waiting so long to update. Had a lot of drama shit in my life and just had to step back for a while and chill out, ya know? You guys have no idea how much I depend on this story to keep me sane haha. Anyways, here's the crappy chapter that took me days to write. I wrote it for days and it ended up kinda crappy and for that I apologize.**

**TheAvidReader: I'm perfectly fine with English hahaha. And they totally thought F looked more scary than E. I can almost guarantee you that lol. And thanks! And the spaces could be from like a Copy and Paste error since that's what i use to upload. **

**Percabeth02: You gave me that idea, dear. So for that, I thank you. My writing isn't really all that great and yes, Luke is a jerk. **

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Chapter 18

**Annabeth POV**

Chapter 18

I didn't know how much I was going to hate the next day until it came. Now, the only teacher who actually knew why I was in the hospital was Mr. Brunner, thanks to a certain black haired, sea green eyed boy.

I didn't, at first, mind that he had told Mr. Brunner, but I didn't know what he was going to do with the information that Percy had provided. I didn't expect this to happen. I was hoping Percy didn't either. If he did I was going to hurt him. Come to think of it, he would probably be thrilled that I was hurting someone else besides myself. What came? Oh that would be a whole class period dedicated to the topic and debate of, none other than, suicide.

I had a feeling that this discussion was not going to make me feel any better. I didn't know for sure, but it was just a hunch.

When he announced this to the class, everyone was soooo curious as to whom or what this was really about. Me? I knew. I definitely knew. Even though he wasn't looking directly at me, it felt like he was looking right at me. I didn't want to be in this class right now, but if I got up and left, everyone would know it was me. This type of thing isn't exactly the type of thing I would like to advertise, ya know?

"So, class, what are your viewpoints on suicide? Pro or con?" he asked us. Many people, most people I should say, answered con. There were those who answered pro, though. At least I'm not the only one.

"Annabeth, your thoughts?"

"No thank you, sir."

"Annabeth, please share your thoughts on the subject with the class. Either that or detention."

Damn. He knew my weak spot. I could never get detention. I couldn't stand it. Now, I could sit here and lie about it, but what's the point if he already knows the truth?

"Pro. I am pro suicide."

"Now, tell us why."

"Because, I feel that it's the person who is about to commit suicide's decision to take his or her own life. Never put your life in someone else's hands. That's what he or she would be doing if they stayed for someone or something of that sort. It's his or her life to take. If they want to take it, why hold them back? If they're miserable and depressed here, why would you make them stay and suffer?"

"Okay. Very good. Percy? Your thoughts and opinions."

"Well, uh, I am kind of both pro and con suicide."

"Explain yourself."

"Well, like Annabeth has said, it is the person who wants to kill themselves' choice. However, I feel that if someone can prevent or stop it then they should try their best to. I guess, it's the person's choice to kill themselves, but if it can be prevented, try to prevent it. But, don't force them to stay necessarily," Percy said. He turned and looked at me and finished, "Sometimes that just doesn't work. Especially if they had made up their mind already."

"Interesting point of view, Percy. Annabeth, will you please come up in front of the class for a minute?"

"No, I will not," my mouth gaping at the question. I didn't really know what he was going to ask once I got up there and something told me I didn't want to.

"Percy, stand up here with Miss Chase. Mainly so she'll actually come up here," Mr. Brunner said half laughing at the second sentence.

Percy complied with Mr. Brunner's command and was slowly dragging me with him. We got up there and what Mr. B asked me to do infuriated me.

"Annabeth, would you please remove your sweatshirt?"

"Ummm, excuse me?" I said, careful not to raise my voice…Too loudly.

"You heard me."

"No. I will not be removing my sweatshirt."

"Percy," Mr. Brunner said and in an instant Percy was taking my sweatshirt off of my body. Within seconds it was off. My arms exposed.

I stood in front of the whole class with them staring back at me wide eyed. I was beyond pissed off at this point. I looked at Percy, enraged by what he had done. I could feel tears rising into my eyes ready to be let loose. I went back to my desk, grabbed my things and left. There was still a good thirty minutes of class left, but I didn't care. I got to the front of the school by the time Percy caught up to me.

"You should be in class, Percy."

"As should you."

"Why did you do it, Percy?"

He sighed and pondered for a minute.

"Well, Mr. Brunner knew what happened, which I'm guessing you already figured out. He and I discussed having the suicide discussion. Obviously, we went through with it. And don't be mad at Mr. Brunner about what happened in class about the sweatshirt."

"Why?"

"Because it was my idea."

* * *

**Percy POV**

Her face was filled with anger and sadness all at the same time. She also looked surprised. I would be too if I were her, though, I suppose. I feel kind of bad about it, but I'm not really apologetic about it. It had to happen.

"Why, Percy!?"

"Because, Annabeth, it happened. End of story. You can't erase it. You can't act like it never happened. It will always be with you and you have to live it. You can't keep running from it."

"It's been working for me so far," she said, turning around to leave.

"Annabeth!"

She waved me goodbye above her shoulder without turning around or anything. And just like that, she was out the door and gone.


	19. Chapter 19

**I'm back to uploading one chapter a day! Wheeeee! I loved loved loved all the reviews I got for my last chapter. You all gave me different viewpoints and a mixture of good and badish reviews which I thank you for! **

**TheAvidReader: I will probably some how work that or something similar to that into my story at some point. And you'll see Hayley again. I promise. I would like to take the time to thank you for being such a loyal reader and reviewer! 3**

**DeadlyDaughterOfHermes: I will try to work that into my story! Thanks for the positive review!**

**ImmaNerd98: I appreciate your sort of negative review and I respect your opinion on my story and the previous chapter. However, I am writing this story based off of things that have happened in my life and things that are happening currently in my life, so I too am considering my personal experience. As a matter of face, one of my friends did something very similar as to what Percy did to Annabeth in the previous chapter to me and I thought I'd work it in. But thanks for your review, it really got my creative juices flowin'!**

**Percabeth02: It wasn't annoying. I was heartfelt by the fact that you wanted me to update so badly! And it's not that I have better things to do, it's just that I get really distracted XD**

**TheDarkerSide123: Glad you're hooked.**

**David: Please, explain why you didn't enjoy it. I would love to hear your view of my story!**

* * *

Chapter 19

Percy POV

I knew that there was really no point in going after her. It was Annabeth. If she wanted to go home, she was going home; there was nothing to be done about it.

I thought about going back to class for the last fifteen minutes or so, but then I thought what the hell there's no point. I left a few minutes after Annabeth, giving her time and space. I knew that that was what she needed, so I gave it to her. However, I didn't want her home long enough alone to do something stupid. I was hoping for it to be an "oh my gods"less day.

I also wanted to talk to Anna about what had happened. What we had just said and discussed was not enough and I knew she didn't fully understand which would just consume her whole being. And we didn't need that to happen since she did such a good job of it on her own.

She was already there when I got home, which was good since it kinda meant that I had given her enough space and time to think. She was sitting on the couch, her eyes glazed over, but not in a dead way.

"Hey," I said to her.

"Bonjour. Comment ça va?" **(Hey. How are you?)** She asked in yet another language she knew. I didn't really speak all that much French, but I knew enough to speak at about a French I level.

"Ça va. Je suis ici pourquoi toi. Comment tu as trouvé le cours de Latin aujourd'hui?" **(I'm okay. I am here because of you. How did you like Latin class today ?)**

I tried to say it kind of jokingly, but I think it pissed her off even more. I guess she doesn't like lightened moods. Who knows? What I did know is that she was unbelievably upset with me and that I didn't like it. She looked at me with feelings of betrayal in her eyes. Looking at her made me feel even guiltier than I did before.

"Es-tu heureux?" **(Are you happy ?)**

"Avec quoi?" **(With what?)**

"Hodi fecisti cum classe Latine," **(With today in Latin class)** she said, switching languages from French to Latin. Don't ask me why she does that, because I couldn't give you an honest to gods truthful answer since I, myself, don't know an actual answer.

"Listen, Annabeth, I'm sorry. I really truly am, but I'm not going to let you walk around pretending that this didn't happen. You can't run from the past. You have to accept what you've done to yourself."

She sat there as if frozen in time. She didn't move, and if I didn't watch her closely, I'd say she didn't blink either. She was like that for at least five minutes. She was thinking quite toughly about what I had just said.

"I see what you are saying and where you are coming from, but this isn't really something I want to show everyone and advertise. It's personal, Perce. But, thanks to you, now it's not."

"I know. That was kind of the purpose of the whole thing. You need to accept what you've done, okay? I know that it's hard to, but you need to. For yourself and for others."

"And by others, you mean you?"

"Yes, but I also mean all of our friends."

"There is no 'our' friends. There's your friends. I don't have friends. I have you. But, I mean, I don't mean that in a bad way. I mean, it's good that I have you, but I'm just trying to say that I don't have friends besides you," she said, stuttering and rambling, which she only did when she was feeling frazzled. I thought it was kind of cute, personally.

"I know what you're trying to say, Anna. You can stop rambling," I said laughing. "And, the others really do care about you, honest. While you were in the hospital, they kept asking where you were. At first, I didn't know how to respond. I didn't know whether or not I should tell them what had happened, but after a while I decided to tell them. They were so worried about you, Annabeth. Why can't you see that? Why can't you see that there are people in this world who give a damn about you?"

"Because, I'm not worth it. I'm not worth the constant worry of whether I am okay or not. I'm not worth checking on all the time. Hell, I'm not even worth saying hi to sometimes. But, I am worth not betraying. It doesn't really excuse what you've done, Perseus. I don't understand how you could do this. It's my story to tell, Perce. To let unfold. Like delicately unwrapping a Christmas present. But, no. You went and tried to tell it for me, ripping the wrapping paper like a four year old! All I was trying to do was sit here and take it day by day. Was that not good enough for you or something?"

"It would have been if I knew that that was what you were doing. But either way, I probably would have done this for you."

"Why?"

"BECAUSE I CARE ABOUT YOU AND LOVE YOU, ANNABETH! WEREN'T YOU LISTENING THAT DAY BEFORE TECH THEATRE?"

"Yeah, Percy, yelling is really gonna help where this conversation is going! And yes, I was listening. I responded. And you know what?! I think I love you too!" she practically yelled at me. Those words rang in my ears for what seemed like hours when it had only been mere seconds. I loved the sound of her saying that. I can't believe she said it, actually. She loves me. My Wise Girl loves me.


	20. Chapter 20

**Hey guys! I know I said I'd update almost everyday, but let's get one thing straight.. WEEKENDS DO NOT COUNT! haha. And if I'm not updating everyday this week I apologize and I give you permission to metaphorically slap me. I have final exams this week so I gotta study my ass off to try to maintain my straight A's! Wish me luck! **

**Percabeth02: Thank you, dearie! Glad you think so!**

**DeadlyDaughterOfHermes: Thanks, love you too! **

**MegJackson: haha thanks. And have you noticed how they haven't come back to explain themselves after I called them out?**

**TheAvidReader: Yes she loves him back! And it's okay if you sound like a mom saying that. You're the only one saying that to me. And yeah, I realize I'm not Percy and can't heal myself, but I haven't cut in like 5 months so :P. **

**AwkwardGems: So happy to hear you think my story is beautiful. I will try to keep it up!**

* * *

Chapter 20

Annabeth POV

I can't believe I had just told him that. I mean, what I said was true. I did love him. Always had. Always will. But, I felt as though he snaked it out of me; invaded my privacy yet again today. I gotta say, I was getting really tired of it. I guess I sort of understood why he did what he did, but it was just hard to believe that he, of all people, was the one to do that. I would have expected it from Hayley had she known what had happened. Hell, she probably did know what happened. I really hated that he had told everybody what had happened and at this point I wouldn't be surprised if he had told all of them exactly what had happened. But, would he really tell them? What had happened in California and everything that I had told him?

He stood there as if he was dumbfounded and glued to the couch. He had this ridiculous smile on his face, too. If I didn't know it was there because I told him I loved him, I would have thought he had gone mad. Finally, after what had to be the longest awkward silence in history, he spoke.

"That's a relief. I almost didn't know if you did or not."

"What do you mean you almost didn't know?"

"Well, I figured that if you loved me enough, you would have tried to stay for me instead of trying to take the easy way out."

"Percy-"

"Wait, let me finish, Anna. That's what I thought, but now I see that you were doing it for my good and because you love me. However, you underestimated my love of you. I will always love you no matter what. No matter what you do, no matter who you become, I will love you," he said, reaching for my wrists. "I will love you through this. All of this. Anything that happens, we'll get through it, Annabeth. We'll get through it together. You're not alone in this, Annabeth. You never will be. I'll always be here. Always."

"I know, Perce. Thank you. That still doesn't excuse what you did though."

"But-"

"But, I forgive and I'll let it slide," I said then kissed him on the cheek.

"You know, I think you've been getting a lot better, Annabeth."

"Yeah?"

"Yeah, I do. You've been generally okay for the past few days and you have even been taking your meds on your own. I don't even have to force you to."

"Yeah, I guess you're right."

"Why don't you try going a day or two without your pills? I mean, the doctor said you only had to take them until you were doing okay, and you are doing okay now, so why not?"

"Seriously?"

"Yes, seriously. I think you can do it, Annabeth. I don't want you relying on pills to get you through the day. I feel like you can do it on your own with me. No pills. And if you hit turmoil and feel like you can't, I'll be here with you every step of the way. We'll take it day by day. What do you think?"

"I think you've thought this through a lot. Maybe a little too much," I said laughing. "But, yeah sure, we'll try it."

"Hey, I have a question for ya."

"Shoot."

"So, are we, like, a couple now?"

I didn't really know how to respond because, in truth, I didn't really know either.

"I don't really know. You tell me."

"Yes," he said smiling cockily.

"Okay then I guess we are," I said smiling and half laughing.

That's when he did it. He pulled me in to him and kissed me like there was no tomorrow. And for a moment, everything in the world felt right.


	21. Chapter 21

**Hello, lovelies! Are you ready for another chapter? Oh well, even if you aren't, here it is anyway!**

**Percabeth02: I thought it did, but you're right, it probably actually didn't. And it's a psychological thing.**

** .1004: what about Annabeth is bugging the hell out of you?**

**TheAvidReader: I had a passion. Softball. But, I left it. I didn't fit in with those people. I got an offer to join a descent travel team, but I really don't fit in with those people at all. I like a lot of them, I'm just not one of the and I never will be. And the whole "everything will get better" thing and your predictions for the future, no one ever knows how things will turn out. If there's anything I've learned in my life so far, it's that nothing turns out how you expect. Sorry, hon. Not meaning to berate you or anything, I promise. 3 But thank you for trying chérie. **

* * *

Chapter 21

**Annabeth POV**

After a few minutes, we pulled apart. I was at the peak of happiness for a moment. But, of course, Percy, being the Seaweed Brain that he is, had to ruin it. At first, I didn't think what he was going to say would ruin the moment, but then he actually opened his mouth and asked me something that totally killed it.

"Don't wear long sleeves tomorrow."

"I beg your pardon?"

"You heard me."

"Yeah, you're right. I did. I was just hoping I heard wrong. Why can't I wear long sleeves tomorrow, Percy? Please, do tell."

"I don't want you to wear long sleeves because you are done hiding those scars of yours."

"Okay.. Um, A. You don't get to tell me what to do. And, B. It's December and we live in Manhattan."

"What's your point?"

"My point is that it's fucking cold!"

"Point taken."

"Thank you."

"BUT, it's not cold in our classrooms. Ha! Check mate, Chase."

"Oh, and I suppose you're going to have me remove the gauze from my wrists too?"

"Nah. That part is up to you."

I sighed. I was very conflicted. And pissed. I was pissed too. It was like no matter what I did to try to get better it was never enough. I just didn't understand why he was rushing me to be something that just wasn't me. That also made me question his love. Was he in love with the girl that left 5 years ago or the girl that came to his doorstep from California crying in need of a place to stay? I figured I might as well ask all these questions that were buzzing in my head. I mean, what was the worst that could happen?

"Percy?"

"Yeah?"

"Why are you rushing me into this?"

"Rushing you into what, Annabeth?"

"Into being completely better. I've been progressing on my own. Why is my progression just never enough for you? It's like you're rushing me into something that isn't me. And when you said you loved me, was that to the girl that left five years ago or to who I am now?"

* * *

**Percy POV**

I was completely perplexed at this point. I didn't really know what she was asking or how to respond. I mean, it kind of made sense, the questions. But, in my heart it didn't make sense. Annabeth is Annabeth no matter when or where she is and I love Annabeth so I love the Annabeth that is here before me now, right? The expression on her face saddened and softened all at the same time.

"That's what I thought," she said, standing up. I grabbed a hold of her before she got too far.

"Wait, Annabeth. It just didn't really make sense, so I had to think about what you said. I would have thought that you of all people would understand and appreciate thinking."

She pondered for a few seconds and replied, "All right. Fine. You have one minute. Go."

"Okay, well, it's just, you are you no matter when or where and I love you, so I obviously love the you that came to me in your time of need as much as the one I would spend every day with five years ago."

She sat back down, which I wasn't quite sure was a good thing or not. She had her thinking look on her face, eyes clouded over.

"Then why is my progression thus far not enough for you?"

"Your progression is fine! It's great, actually. I just think you're ready to stop taking your medication, that's all."

"Percy, I've been out of the hospital for only, like, two days! You are rushing me!"

I never really thought about it like that. It felt like she had been back longer than only two days. That explains why she was beyond über pissed at me. A lot of things had suddenly become clear. Everything that we had fought about now made more sense to me. It was like someone had just given me a shakabuku **(A/N if any of you know the movie shakabuku is from, I will love you forever and you are amazing!)**.

I sighed. "I didn't know it has only been two days, Anna. I'm sorry. It's felt a little longer than that. And I mean that in a good way."

"There's a good connotation of that?" she asked laughing.

"Yeah, believe it or not," I said laughing, too.

"I'll cut you a deal, Percy."

"And what is that?"

"I'll show my arms if you let me continue with my medicine until I feel that I'm ready to stop taking them. Deal?"

"Gods yes. Deal."

She stood up to go to her room, but I grabbed her waist first.

"Seal it with a kiss?"

"You are such a Seaweed Brain!" she said, kissing me anyways.

That simple, innocent kiss quickly turned into a heavy make out session. It went on forever. It went on until we were both ready to lose control…


	22. Chapter 22

**This chapter took me two days to write. It was a seven page word document. This was a bitch to write. However, I think it's my favourite chapter. **

**Percabeth02: A few people found out, but that was because I told them. They weren't much help though. I think they actually made things worse. And my parents don't know about and I tend to keep it that way. **

**TheAvidReader: Don't be sorry. It was the sweetest thing ever! You didn't make me feel uncomfortable, it's just, I haven't really had a convo like that in a while since nobody's really shown any interest in having one of those convos with me before (kind of like a heart to heart convo). Not sure if I change the repetitiveness in this chapter, but I feel that it's different from my other chapters. And this is a longer chapter. Just for you. And I was never really good at developing the setting, sorry! I'll try to work on it though.**

* * *

Chapter 22

**Annabeth POV**

I was going to lose all of my control, and, to tell the truth, I was almost okay with it. Everything felt okay and right when I was with Percy, so why not? I did love him. What's the harm? I was ready to get lost in him, in his body. For a second, I thought he would let me, but thankfully he was thinking for the both of us. We pulled apart and I could see that he didn't really want to stop either, but knew that it had to be done. I looked over at the clock and it was already four o'clock!

"We should probably do our homework, Perce."

"You have got to be the only person on Earth that can go from making out to doing schoolwork like it's the easiest thing ever."

"Does that surprise you?"

"No," he said smiling, "it really doesn't, Wise Girl."

We got our backpacks and sat down at the kitchen table to start our AP English homework. It wasn't that bad. All we had to do was read a few chapters of _In Cold Blood_, which I had read several times prior. I was beginning to think that Percy hadn't by the way he was staring at the pages of the book.

I finished before Percy did (shocker, I know), so I got started on my Physics homework. Physics and I weren't exactly best friends. I didn't quite grasp the concept of some of it and too much pride to ask for help. I was halfway through one of the assignments when Percy finally finished reading. He, too, pulled out the Physics assignments and started working on them. He finished before I did, though, which was a little bit disheartening. He noticed that I was still working on them.

"You want some help, Annabeth?"

"Nope," I said, popping the p. "I can figure it out on my own."

"You sure?"

"Yeah, Perce. I'm sure. Thanks anyways, though."

"No problem."

But it was a problem. I couldn't figure out this study guide. I'd missed too much class time to be able to fill it out completely. I didn't like it. I hated it, actually. I felt so stupid. I couldn't believe that I couldn't fill this out. I guess I did need Percy's help, if I wanted to pass.

"Actually, Percy, I could use your help," I admitted.

"Thought so," he said, smiling.

I rolled my eyes and he continued to teach me all that I had missed while I was in the hospital. Once he explained it, it all made sense. It just suddenly clicked inside my head. It wasn't confusing at all. It was logical and I knew logic.

I got up to go to my bedroom at around seven, when we finished. Before I got out of the kitchen, I stood with my back still towards Percy and thanked him. I continued to my room and got my iPod. I browsed through the artists on it and decided to listen to Breaking Benjamin. I listened to their album _Phobia_ on repeat for hours. One minute I'm on my bed, next thing I know, Percy's waking me up for school the next morning.

"Annabeth!" he said hitting me with a pillow, "Wake up! We're gonna be late."

As soon as he said that I bolted off of my bed to my dresser to get something to wear, not even bothering to turn my music off. Did he know how to get me out of bed or what? When he saw me rushing to get ready, he burst out laughing.

"Anna!"

"What?"

"It's Saturday," he said between laughs.

"Oh my gods, Percy! You're such an asshole!"

We both started laughing so hard because we both knew I didn't really mean it. I mean, it was an asshole move on his part, but it was a joke. An awesome joke at that. I got to the point that I was laughing so hard, my side hurt. It was the best joke ever. It was also weird since ordinarily I would have slapped him for this. But, for some reason, I found it funny this time.

When we finally got done laughing our asses off, we composed ourselves. He walked over towards me.

"Admit it. That was the funniest thing that could have happened."

"I never denied it. It was funny. Rude. But, funny."

I walked over to my bed and picked up my iPod, mainly to turn the music off, but also to check the time. Ten o'clock. Damn. I didn't think it was this late. I've practically slept away half the day!

"Get out, Perce."

"What? Why?"

"I'm going to get dressed. Out. Now."

He started to laugh. I hadn't a clue why, but he did. He kissed me lightly then left me to get dressed. I put on a black t-shirt, remembering the deal I had made with Percy the night prior, and a pair of jeans.

I walked into the living room and sat down next to Percy.

"You remembered?" he asked, referring to the shirt.

"Yes, Percy. I remembered. I'm not that forgetful."

"Of course you aren't."

"I'm not!"

"I know. I'm just messin' with ya. So, what do you want to do today?"

"Don't know. Haven't put much thought into it. I'll probably just do some make up work or something. Gods only know how much of that stuff I have yet to do."

"Yeah, you do have some make up work to finish. You're, like a whole chapter behind in Physics. But, that's probably all you have to worry about. You're already ahead in English, Latin and Tech Theatre."

"Yeah, so I'll do the make up work today so I don't have to worry about it later. That and it would be amazingly awesome to get it out of the way."

I got my Physics textbook and took out one of the chapter questions worksheets and started on it. It was dead silent in the apartment. That was, until all of a sudden the chorus to Move Along by All-American Rejects started ringing through the apartment. I have to admit though, it was a good ringtone choice on Percy's part. He answered his phone and took it into the kitchen. It was a rather quick conversation.

"Come on, Annabeth."

"What?" I asked, confused.

"We're going."

"No, you're going. I'm studying. Where is it you are going anyways?"

"We are going to meet Nico, Thalia, Clarisse, and all of them at the mall."

"Again, no. You are. Not we. You. I'm studying, Perce. I'm not leaving."

"Take a study break, Anna. Live life a little, would ya?"

"Seriously, go without me. I'll be fine. Go, have fun," I said getting up to look at him in the eyes easier.

"You sure?"

"Yes! Go. To quote a dear friend, 'Live life a little, would ya?'"

"Okay, okay," he said, laughing.

I leaned up and kissed him, a kiss that says I love you, and sat back down on the couch.

"How do you expect me to leave after that?"

"Bye."

He laughed and finally left. He said he'd be home in a few hours. That gave me plenty of time to work on my Physics work in peace. But, maybe it gave me too much time. I thought about it for a second and determined that it just meant I could take my time with the work. I liked that answer. _Damn, I give myself good answers _I thought to myself.

After almost two hours, I finished all of my work for Physics. Percy wasn't home yet, so I took the liberty to use this to shower. When I was done showering, he still wasn't home. I used this as valuable snooping time. Primarily to snoop around on his iPod to see the music he liked. I mean, he knew mine, so why can't I know his? I went into his room, which sent a chill up my spine for some unknown reason. I saw his iPod sitting on his dresser, his ear buds coiled around it.

I uncoiled the headphones and turned it on. A screen came up requiring a password. _Shit. What would he set as his password?_ I questioned. After pondering for a moment, the only thing I could come up with was 0818. His birthday, August, 18. I thought for sure that that had to be his password. Apparently I had to think harder.

After a few more minutes of concentrated thinking, the only thing I could possibly come up with was 4522. I love Annabeth Chase. I mean, it sounded weird, I'll admit that, but it was the only thing I could think of besides his birthday. I typed it into the keypad shown. Well, what do ya know? It worked!

I started going through some of his music. I looked mainly at the artists that he had. He had some My Chemical Romance, All-American Rejects, Green Day, Linkin Park, Cold, Crossfade, Black Eyed Peas, Eminem, Finger Eleven, Framing Hanley, Less Than Jake, Muse, Nickelback, Nirvana, Pink Floyd, Seether, Sugarcult, T-Pain, Thousand Foot Krutch, Flo Rida, 30 Seconds to Mars, Dr. Dre, and various other rap and pop artists. I would have gotten to see more if I hadn't been interrupted.

I was going through his music when someone cleared their throat. I turned my head so fast that I made myself dizzy. Percy was standing in the doorway to his bedroom.

"What are you doing?" he asked with the most serious tone of voice that I have ever heard him use, especially with me.

"Well, I was going through the music on your iPod," I replied casually.

"Why?"

"Because I didn't think it was that big of a deal!"

"Well, I mean, it's not. I guess you just caught me by surprise. I didn't really expect you to be in my room going through me iPod. How did you get into my iPod anyway?"

"Come on, Perce. 4522? I love Annabeth Chase? It's not rocket science, but it's a step up from what I originally thought it was," I said then laughed.

"What did you think it was before you got 4522?"

"0818 for your birthday."

He laughed at that too. I loved his laugh so much. Hearing it just made me happy for some reason.

"You thought it would be that easy?"

"Obviously."

We stood there for a few moments, laughing. Then an awkward silence came. I wasn't really a big fan of awkward silences, so I took the liberty of talking first.

"What was your password before that? Just out of curiosity."

"It wasn't."

"What do you mean?"

"I mean that that has always been my passcode for my iPod."

"Oh."

"You owe me not, by the way."

"For what?!"

"Going into my iPod like that. And for thinking my passcode was as easy as my birthday."

"Fine. I'll pay up later."

I was trying to get past him as he was still standing in the doorway, but he wouldn't let me through. He pushed me up against the wall and cornered me. He had his hands on my waist and I honestly had no way of getting out of this.

"Or you could pay up now," he said kissing me.

I had to admit, the sound of paying up now sounded great. Fantastic. Heavenly even. We were soon making out like there was no tomorrow. We were there for about five minutes until we moved to the bed. We were both at a loss of control for now. This time, I didn't know if either of us could stop. Neither of us wanted to. We were losing ourselves in each other. He was on top of me, running his hands up and down my body. This moment felt perfect. I never wanted to lose it. Ever. I was glad I was paying up now instead of later because, right now, it just felt right. It felt so right that the next thing I know is that I woke up the next morning. In bed. The same bed as Percy…


	23. Chapter 23

**Wassuppppppp! I'm back with an even more exciting chapter than the last! **

**Percabeth02: Not particularly. I mean, it did a little, but nothing compared to the emotional pain I was feeling at the time. **

**TheAvidReader: No review on chapter 22 :( i always look forward to your reviews. Oú est-ce que vous allez, ma chérie?**

**Oh, and you all should check out my profile to watch a vid i made for PJO character theme songs. it's really cool :)**

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Chapter 23

**Annabeth POV**

Waking up next to Percy freaked me out. I mean, it felt… I don't know…Normal. But, I didn't exactly remember if we had actually done something though. It was starting to severely bug me. I didn't handle not know something that well. I had to know. I lay there, eyes wide open trying to figure out whether or not we had done anything. For the life of me, I couldn't remember.

Percy started to wake up. I looked over at the bedside clock. Nine twenty-three. His eyes flicked open. He looked over towards me.

"Morning," he said.

"Uh, morning. Perce, what happened?..."

"Don't worry, Annabeth," he said laughing, "nothing happened."

I sighed in relief.

"Trust me, if something did happen you would not be able to walk this morning," he said smirking.

"Don't flatter yourself, Jackson."

"So, did the thought of sleeping with me sound so bad to you or something?"

"Gods no. But we're only seventeen, Perce."

"Well, you're seventeen. I'm eighteen."

"Only until Friday."

"And if we weren't only teenagers?"

"Marriage, Perce. Waiting til marriage. Can ya wait that long?" I asked half laughing at the last part.

"The question is can you?"

I groaned and buried my head in his chest. At this, he simply laughed. I rolled my eyes, not that he could see that, and playfully punched his chest. Not hard enough to hurt him, but not hard enough to hurt him, at which he just laughed harder.

"I'm sooo hurt."

"You wanna be?" I asked him, moving to get up.

"I'd like to see you try."

"Yeah, me too," I said laughing since I knew I probably couldn't really hurt him. Without a weapon, of course.

I got out of bed and stretched. When I stretched, I guess my shirt lifted up some in the back.

"Is that a tattoo. More specifically a tramp stamp?" Percy asked.

Damn. Shit. Fuck. I forgot about that. The tattoo of a skull and cross bones on my tail bone, commonly referred to as a tramp stamp, totally escaped my mind. I pulled my shirt back down over the tattoo.

"Um, maybe?"

"How and when did you get that? Don't you have to be eighteen?"

"I got it right after my sixteenth birthday. Got it with my fake I.D."

"Fake I.D.?"

"Yeah. Don't tell me you don't have one, Perce."

"Never said I didn't," he said smiling.

"So, you do party hard. Huh. Go figure."

"Yeah… Kinda," he said rubbing the back of his head, "So, have you ever gone partying?"

"Well, when I first got the I.D. this girl and I went to a club and, from what I can tell, we got totally black out drunk."

"Really?"

"Yeah. Best time of my life in Cali," I said with the biggest, reminiscing smiling plastered on my face.

He started laughing and I laughed along with him.

"I would have never in a million years pegged you as the girl to go out and get shitfaced."

"I normally wouldn't either. Hell, I didn't until that day."

After a few more minutes of small talk with Percy about the tattoo, we finally headed out to the kitchen and got breakfast. I poured myself a bowl of cereal and sat down at the kitchen. Percy followed suit.

I finished before he did. I got up, washed my dishes, and went to my room to get dressed. I planned on going on a run in Central Park, so I dressed in a sports bra under a sweatshirt and a pair of shorts. I grabbed my iPod and went back to the kitchen.

"I'm going for a run, Perce."

"You do realize that it's, like, forty degrees out, right?"

"So, I've noticed," I said trying to untangle my ear buds.

"Alright then. Your choice."

"I know, Percy," I said, kissing him. "I'll be back whenever. If it's longer than two hours, get worried."

I was in the middle of my run, when all hell broke loose. I was on what had to have been my third mile when I saw him. Standing right in front of me. Luke. I couldn't believe it. I hadn't seen him since the incident. I really didn't want to. I didn't have a reason to. He hadn't sat at the table at lunch. He wasn't in any of my classes or anything.

I tried running past him, thinking it was just coincidence that he was here, but deep down I knew it wasn't. Needless to say, running past him didn't work. He grabbed my arm as I was running past him, pulled me into him and kissed me. I didn't really know what to do, so I just did what I thought was best. I punched him square in the jaw.

"Look at that," he started, "little miss 'I wanna die' is alive and kicking. Or should I say punching."

"You can say kicking. I can most certainly kick you. I would be overjoyed to, actually."

"Do you even know what joy feels like, Annabeth?"

"Yeah, you asshole, I do know what joy feels like."

"Oh yeah? What's it feel like?"

"It feels like every minute of every day that I'm not spending with you."

"Funny."

"Thanks. So what do you want, Luke?"

"Revenge."

"For what? You broke up with me. Remember?"

"And after your little stunt, you clearly got together with Percy. If you hadn't dated me, everybody would have thought you guys were already dating. I mean, he follows you like a fucking dog. You guys are always together. Even when we were dating, Percy was always there. Hell, that's why I broke up with you in the first place."

"And I couldn't be happier that it happened."

"Why don't you like me, Annabeth?" he asked with an insane glint in his eye.

"Um, I don't know, let's see. Because you're fucking nuts!"

"You're gonna pay, Chase."

A chill went up my spine when he said that. I didn't like the sound of that, at all. I was trying to figure out what he meant when two other guys came up behind me, put a gag in my mouth, and tied up my feet and hands. Next thing I know, I was being thrown in the back of Luke's car.

He drove to some place in the woods and stopped the car. I had a feeling I knew where this was gonna go and I didn't like it one bit. He got out of the car and got in the back seat with me.

"You know what I'm gonna do to you, Annabeth? I'm gonna do what Percy only wishes he could do to you."

He went on about this, while I tried to get the ties off of my hands. My hands were tied behind my back and I remember that I had my knife strapped to the back of my leg. So, while he ranted about how he was gonna fuck me up and rape me and shit, I took the time to grab my knife and cut myself free.

Once I got my hands free, he leaned in and started kissing me. I slightly kissed him back, but only to be able to do what I did next. I took my knife and plunged it into his leg. I then proceeded to open my door and run like all hell. I know what you may be thinking. 'Annabeth, why didn't you just kill him?' Well, because I don't want to go to jail for murder of the first degree.

I kept running until I found something that looked vaguely familiar as a reference point to get back home. After a few minutes, I was standing in front of the apartment building. Before walking in, I analyzed myself. A few bruises and some of his blood on my clothes. Super. This was gonna be brilliant fun to have to explain to Percy.

I tried to sneak into the apartment, but it didn't really work all that well. Percy was sitting on the couch watching T.V. waiting for me to come home. When he looked at me he did so with eyes so wide it would have scared me if I hadn't known why he was looking at me like that.

"Holy shit, Annabeth! What happened?"

"Long story."

"I have time."

"Okay, fine. Well, I went on my run, obviously, and then on my third mile, I think, Luke showed up. We talked for all of, like, forty – five seconds. Then, these two guys, who I guess were with him, came up behind me, put a gag in my mouth, bound my feet, and tied my hands behind my bad. They then threw me in the back of Luke's car where Luke drove into the woods and tried to fuck / rape me. However, I took my knife out of the back of my leg, that's where I holster it, and cut my hands free, stabbed him in the leg, untied my feet, and ran for it."

He just sat there trying to comprehend it all. While he did that, I used the time to shower and change my clothes. I got into my pajamas, which consisted of a tank top and a pair of shorts. I know what you're thinking, 'Why the hell are you wearing a tank top and shorts in New York in December?' Because, I have this weird thing where I can only be so warm at night.

I got back into the living room and found myself in this big bear hug with Percy.

"I'm so glad you're okay," he whispered to me. "I've never been happier that you carry a knife, although, that leg holster thing? So hot."

"Gods, Perce. You are just like every other teenage boy on Earth," I said laughing.

I looked over at the clock on the stove. Three o'clock.

"Hey, you wanna watch some movies, Perce?"

"Yeah, sure. What movie did you have in mind?"

"How about…House At The End Of The Street?"

"Sounds good."

As I was putting the movie into the DVD player, Percy popped some popcorn and asked me an odd, but sensible, question.

"How are you acting so chill about this whole Luke thing?"

"I'm not acting chill about it. I am chill about it."

"Yeah, but how? Why?"

"Because there's really no use at all of dwelling upon it. And, I mean, sure, I'm freaked out about it and stuff. Hell, it scared the Hades out of me, but I'm not gonna show it. You should know that by know," I said sighing.

I stood up to go back to the couch, only to be stopped by Percy.

"You are absolutely sure that you're okay?" he asked looking me straight in the eye.

"Well, it's not like I'm using my knife at the moment, is it?" I asked looking him dead in the eye as well to prove my point.

"Yeah, at the moment. What about later?"

"Nope."

"Good."

And with that, we both sat down on the couch to watch the movie. When that movie finished, it was about five o'clock. So, we put in another movie. This time we put in Resident Evil. It was one of our favourite movies. When that finished we put in Resident Evil: Apocalypse. About halfway through it, though, I fell asleep on Percy's chest. He carried me bridal style into my room, pulled a blanket over me and kissed me.


	24. Chapter 24

**Heyyyy guyssss! I've missed you, dearies 3. This chapter took me sooo long to write. I haven't updated in over a week and I am so unbelievably sorry. But, one of my friends, whom I've never really gotten along with totally well, gave me the inspiration to finish! Actually, I'm totally surprised we're getting along since for some reason we normally don't. He's like a big brother to me and this chapter probably wouldn't be posted tonight if I hadn't started talking with him again. So, major shoutout to him. **

**Percabeth02: Gods no! I love your reviews too! It's just TheAvidReader has been here since the beginning.. I'm sorry if I made you feel bad, sweetie 33. And aww thank you! That is soo sweet of you. **

**TheAvidReader: It's okay. I had final exams the other week and then this past week we started new classes and Algebra II is kicking my ass! And yes, this is the falling action. It has been for a few chapters. **

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Chapter 24

**Annabeth POV**

_Ugh. Monday._ Those were the only thoughts that went through my head when I heard my alarm going off. However, I didn't actually mind my alarm most of the time. You see, I set my alarm on my iPod, so naturally I chose an awesome song to wake up to in the mornings and I change it every week. This week, it happened to be Hollaback Girl by Gwen Stafani. Why, you may ask? Simple. Because I can.

I turned and reached over to my nightstand to pick up my iPod and to turn off the alarm. I sat in bed for five more minutes. I would have been longer if Percy hadn't come in to my room to make sure I was up since I was always up immediately after the alarm sounded; either that or beforehand. He came in and turned on my bedroom light.

"You suck, Percy!"

"Are you up yet, Annabeth?"

"If I wasn't before, I am now. That was incredibly rude, by the way!"

"Well, my deepest apologies, my dearest love," he said chuckling.

"That is so cheesy, Perce."

"I know, but you loved it."

Damn. He caught me. He was right, I do love it. He took my silence as an agreement and laughed.

"Come on, get out of bed," he said walking over to me.

"Ughhhhhhhhh"

"Let's go," he said, laughing, as he pulled me out of my bed. And yes, I literally mean pulled. He dragged me across the floor and across the hallway, into the bathroom, while I screamed the whole way. He went back to my bedroom and got me some clothes. I had to say, I was interested to see what outfit he chose.

He came back, yanked me up off of the floor, handed me the clothes, leaned against the door frame, and said, "If we want to be to school on time, you'll have to shower after school. You haven't any time left to shower."

"Fine," I said, expecting him to leave the doorway and close the door.

When he didn't, I simply said, "Are you gonna leave and shut the door behind you or am I gonna have to kick your ass out of here?"

"Damn. I was hoping you would forget," he said, closing the door and winking.

_Boys_, I thought as I took off my pajamas. I got the outfit that Percy picked out for me and examined it. A sea green half sleeved shirt, grey skinny jeans, and my grey flats. I had to hand it to him; he could coordinate an outfit quite well. I quickly got dressed, brushed my teeth, and threw my hair up into a messy bun.

"'kay, I'm ready," I said as I grabbed my backpack and coat from my bedroom and went out to meet Percy in the living room.

"You look awesome today, Annabeth. I love your outfit," he said.

"Glad you like it. You picked out," I said giggling.

He stood there, contemplating something. I figured out what it was rather quick by his next action. He moved closer to me so that there was practically no space between us. He put his hands on my hips and crashed his lips to mine. I responded accordingly, tangling my fingers in his mess, raven hair. I moaned a little, allowing him to snake his tongue into my mouth. After a while of our tongues fighting for dominance, we pulled apart.

He got his things and opened the door for me.

"Post vos," he said to me. **(After you.)**

"Gratias tibi ago." **(Thank you.)**

We got to the school and stood at the stairs leading to the front of the school. I took of my jacket and put it in my backpack, preparing to enter the school. I looked around and stood there nervously. Percy must have picked up on it.

"You ready, Wise Girl?"

"Yeah," I sighed, slipping my hand into his, intertwining our fingers.

We ascended the stairs to the main building and opened the door. We walked inside which was followed by multiple gasps and everybody staring.

I gripped his hand even tighter when I noticed. He rubbed his thumb over my knuckles to try to calm me down. I had to say, it worked. Having him next to me and holding by hand really did help. Right now, I honestly don't know what I would have done if he was not there.

We heard the minute bell ring and saw others rushing to get to class.

"Dammit, Percy. Come on! We're gonna be late if we don't hurry!" I said to him, puling, well, more like dragging, him with me.

"Annabeth, chill out! We're gonna be late anyways regardless of whether or not we rush to class, love."

It was true, despite how badly I wanted it to be false. The price you pay for a few extra minutes of sleep, huh? Realizing that Percy was right, I slowed down. As soon as I slowed down to a little bit of a slower pace than I normally walk, the bell rang signaling that if you walk in the classroom now, you're late. I sighed. I absolutely hated being late to class. This was the second time in two weeks that I would be late to a class. Granted, I wasn't late for English last week, but it's still the same. Late is late, no matter what you are late for. There's no excuse. Percy noticing that it was bothering decided to say the most cliché thing ever.

"It's not the end of the world, Annabeth."

"Maybe not for you!" I laughed.

As we made our way towards our English, we walked in a comfortable silence. When we got to class, the door was locked, probably to prevent late comers such as us from trying to sneak into class unseen. I had to admit it was a good idea. We knocked on the door and waited for Mr. Perkins to open it up. He came to the door, opened it up and just sort of stared at my arms, at Percy's and my intertwined hands, then back to my arms. We've been at school for all of, like, seven minutes and I was already getting frustrated with everyone staring. Perhaps this wasn't Percy's best idea…

Our teacher let us in the room and then went on with today's lecture. He didn't ask me and Percy why we were late until the end of class, when he called us over to speak with him.

"So, why were you guys late?"

"Well, you see sir, Annabeth here didn't want to take her medicine, so I told her we wouldn't leave until she took them. She argued on her behalf, I argued for her wellbeing. It went on for what had to be twenty minutes and thus we are late to class," he explained, sort of lying.

"Alright. I'll let it slide, just this once. Annabeth, can you stay for another minute or two say I can talk to you? Percy, you're excused."

Percy gave me a look, asking if I wanted him to stay or if I wanted him to wait outside of the door. By the look in his eyes, I could also tell that he didn't want to leave me in here in fear of what Mr. Perkins is going to ask.

"Sir, if it's all the same to you, I would prefer Percy stay in here. Well, technically Percy prefers he stays in here, but I do too."

"Okay. But um, your arms…" he said and trailed off. Luckily I understood what he was asking and replied properly.

"Yes sir. It is. I apologize for missing your class. I'm sorry."

"Don't worry about it, Annabeth. But, if you don't mind my asking, why?"

"I beg your pardon, sir?"

"Why did you do it?"

"Well, as a matter of fact, I do mind you asking. However, I will bring you a copy of my note. I think that will explain at least 75% of it. What would you say, Perce? About 75%?"

"I would have to disagree, actually. I'd say about 60 percent, if that."

"Annabeth," Mr. Perkins started, "while I think that it would be helpful, you don't have to do it if you do not wish to, but if you do, blotch out the names of people and places so nobody knows who it is."

"That's okay. I think I want to. And I think people already know anyways…"

And with that, Percy and I walked out the door to head to second period. With a note from our first period teacher of course! I was not going to be late to two consecutive classes. There was absolutely no way. So, as Percy and I made our way to the other side of campus, we talked about what had just happened. He wanted to make sure I was truly okay with doing this. I told him I was. I didn't really know for sure though, not that I would tell him that.

Lunch, however was different. This was the first time Thalia, Grover, Nico, and everybody else would know or hear about what had happened. Everybody looked at us wide-eyed. Both me and Percy as well as my arms. However, I could see that Thalia's expression hadn't changed in the slightest bit, as if she had almost anticipated this. But, what made lunch even weirder is they actually talked to me. They made conversation with me, and it felt like the first time in ages that I had carried on a legit conversation with someone other than Percy, but then again it kind of was.

The rest of the day went on like first period. Teachers talking to Percy and I after class, me saying I would bring in the note for them. I even did it for Latin class. But the fun part for Latin was that I had to bring and English and Latin copy. So I pretty much had to rewrite it five times. Super. I was in the middle of writing the second copy when I question popped into my head.

"Hey, Perce?"

"Yeah, Wise Girl?"

"What have I done?..." I asked pointing to the notes surrounding me.

"What have you done or what did you do?" he asked me, sitting in the chair next to me.

"I don't know. Both?"

"Well, only you can answer those questions."

"No need to get philosophical on me," I said as I continued to write.

"And who is to say what is and is not philosophical?" he asked raising an eyebrow at me.

"Seriously, I will kick your ass."

He raised his hands in the air in surrender and stood up from the table. He ambled over to the living room and turned on the T.V. while I went to get my iPod to listen to while I write the other copies. I opened up the Pandora app and went to the Good Charlotte radio. Before I knew it I was done writing all of the letters in English. I still had to write one in Latin though. That took shorter than I thought it would. It was weird since it took me half the time to write it in Latin than in English.

I put the letters in the appropriate binders and went to take a shower. After that, I went to find out what Percy had put on the television. I stood behind the couch for a second only to see that he had put on Spongebob. I slowly backed away from the living room area and slipped into my bedroom so I wouldn't have to endure the torture of watching Spongebob. However, he heard me close my door and therefore just haaaad to come check on me and tell me that he would turn off Spongebob. I, of course, told him he could continue to watch and that I was going to read.

After a few hours of reading, I decided I should go to sleep. If I was going to be in a descent mood tomorrow, the only way was to get a lot of sleep. Emphasis on a lot. Tomorrow was definitely going to suck.

* * *

In English, Mr. Perkins put the letter on the projector for everyone to read. And do you have any idea what they did? Here's what they did: they critiqued it. I couldn't decide if I was pissed off or impressed. I was definitely pissed off because I hadn't expected this to happen and this was the first time I realized how poorly it was written. But, I was impressed at how smart some of the other people in my class could be.

In Physics, I handed the note to Mrs. Elder and she read it. But, thankfully, it was to herself. She kept glancing up to me as she read it, in disbelief. I don't blame her. If I was in her shoes, I probably wouldn't believe it either. I hadn't realized how this would have affected others around me. I could see her tear up and immediately felt sort of bad for what I had done. I knew the bell was about to ring, but, in all honesty, I didn't care. I got up and ran out into the hallway for a minute to calm down. As soon as the bell did ring, nobody was in the hallway. I slid down the wall and sat on the floor. _What have I done_ I thought to myself.

After a few minutes, I composed myself and walked back into class. When Percy inquired where I had gone, I didn't answer him. Class was very boring nonetheless though. I was just glad to get out of there when the bell rang.

When we got to Technical Theatre, I handed Mrs. Winter the note and proceeded to the light booth. Percy and I were reading through the script and listening to the music from the play that our school was putting on to decide the lighting for different scenes when Mrs. Winter got on the god mic and called me down to the stage, where she was. I excuse myself to see what she needed.

"Yes, ma'am?"

"The letter that you wrote?"

"What about it?"

"It's… It's beautiful. It would be an excellent idea for a play…"

_Drama teachers_, I thought to myself, being careful not to actually say it out loud. That would not turn out well if I did…

"No ma'am. With all due respect, I would not want this turned into a play. It was bad and painful enough to have to live through; I wouldn't want it produced as a play for other people to experience. I would absolutely hate it if it was to be turned into one," I said, turning on my heal and walked out of the auditorium. It didn't bother me that I had left class early anyways seeming as though there was only about five minutes left of class. Percy, though, followed me out of the auditorium as if he had heard the whole thing.

"Annabeth! Where are you going?"

"I don't know. Anywhere, really."

"I heard what happened, Annie. And I have to agree with you one hundred percent on this one."

"What?! You heard everything?"

"Yeah… Did you forget about the mics we have set up above stage so we know when to cue the lights?"

"Damn. I forgot about that!"

"But, you were right to say no and storm off like that this time."

The bell for third lunch rang after that, so we made our way to the cafeteria. Since yesterday, I got along really well with all of Percy's friends… Our friends. Thalia and I were like sisters already. The only downside to lunch was that they asked to see a copy of my note, which, surprisingly, I gave to them. Percy looked at me like I was crazy. He wasn't expecting me to actually give them a copy. I have to admit, I was shocked too. They all looked at me with pity in their expressions. That was when I got pissed. I didn't want pity, or sympathy, or anything. Percy gave me one of those looks that said _it will be okay, they won't look at you like that forever_. Lunch was over before we knew it and we went to the lovely class of Latin.

I gave Mr. Brunner the letter in both Latin and English. He made them part of today's lesson, just as Mr. Perkins did. He had the class translate the Latin letter to English then put the English one up to see how well we did. I, of course, didn't do it since they were my notes so I knew what they said. Most of the class was flabbergasted by the letters and surprised. Some of the kids in the class looked directly at me since they had recognized my handwriting. I immediately looked away from everybody who tried to look at me.

The rest of the week was a lot better. The week went by rather rapidly and before I knew it, it was Friday. My birthday. It was going to be a good day…


	25. Chapter 25

**Oh my gosh, hey guys! It's been so freaking long since I've updated and I deeply and sincerely apologize. This is the longest chapter yet and it's the last so I wanted to make it the best... Even though I half-assed it towards the end.. But I hope you all love it and I need every single one of you to vote in the poll I put up on my page. If you don't have an account and therefore can't vote, just leave a comment/review about which one you choose. **

**TheAvidReader: I think I was happy when I wrote Ch. 24, but I don't actually remember writing it right now to give you a 100% factual statement about that. haha. And OMG IKR ALGEBRA II TOTALLY SUCKS BALLS. I totally agree with you! I hope you will stick with me and my writing through my upcoming stories. We should start penpaling each other or something because I think you're awesome and don't wanna lose touch with you! You've stuck with me through this shitty story from the beginning and it means so much to me! Love you!**

**Percabeth02: The big deal was that it brought back a lot of emotions she didn't want to go through again and it was sort of painful for her. And you and I should PM back and forth because, you too, are awesome and I don't wanna lose touch with you either! Love you!**

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Chapter 25

**Annabeth POV**

I woke up as my alarm sounded. I had set a different alarm to wake up to this morning since it was an extra special day. It was my birthday! The alarm I chose to wake up to today was Drink In My Hand by Eric Church. What song could be better to wake up to on your birthday?

I went into the bathroom to shower as soon as I woke up. After my shower, I went back into the room and found some clothes on the bed with a note from Percy.

_Wear this today. I think it'll look great. Oh, and happy birthday._

_~ Seaweed Brain_

I unfolded the clothes to see a knee length, sea green dress with a skinny pink belt for around the waist. I have to hand it to him, the outfit was super cute. Maybe he was too good at picking out my outfits… Nevertheless, I put on the dress and saw that he hadn't picked out shoes, so I added my touch of Annabeth to the outfit and put on my black converse. However, before I put my sneakers on, I took note to the weather. It was December so I decided to put on a pair of black leggings too. I mean, black goes with everything, right?

While he showered, I went into the kitchen to grab some breakfast. I put a bagel in the toaster and waited for it to pop up and out of the toaster. Once it did, I grabbed a plate and spread peanut butter on the bagel. I was half way done with my bagel when Percy walked into the kitchen. He, too, grabbed a bagel, toasted it, and spread peanut butter on it.

"You found the dress, I take it?" he asked, looking at me.

"What gave it away? The fact that I am wearing it?" I asked sarcastically.

We both laughed and he rolled his eyes at me. "Ha-ha. I see you added your own touch to it, though," he said, continuing to eat his breakfast.

"Did I? Huh, imagine that," I said, once again unable to resist the perfect opportunity to be the most sarcastic person ever.

After we had finished breakfast and brushed our teeth, we started towards the school. The drive to school was suspiciously quiet. Well, not quiet so much as silent. Neither one of us spoke a word. It wasn't one of the comfortable silences though, but it wasn't necessarily awkward either.

"Is something wrong, Perce?" I asked, tired of the strange silence.

"What could possibly be wrong, Annabeth?" he asked smiling at me. And not one of his playful ones, either. Nor was it his famous lopsided smile. It was more like a smirk. An evil one at that, and I didn't like it. I could only imagine what was going to happen.

We got to school and sat in the car for another minute longer, enjoying its warmth, before entering the cold, frigid morning air.

We entered the tall, old, yet still gorgeous architecturally, brick building of a petty teachery. As we walked towards our lockers, many people complimented me on my dress, which got me thinking that, yes, Percy was indeed way too good at putting together an outfit, which I therefore took the liberty of pointing out to him.

"Percy?"

"Hmm?"

"Did you ever think that perhaps you're too good at picking out an outfit?"

He pondered the thought for a moment. "I only picked out the dress. You actually put the whole thing together. So, no. The thought has never crossed my mind, Wise Girl," he replied, winking.

"And the outfit from this past Monday?"

"Lucky guesses, Annie."

"Don't."

"What? It really was just lucky guessing," he said defending, more like protecting, himself.

"No I'm not saying that you're lying. I'm saying don't call me Annie!" I said firmly.

"I used to be the only one who could call you that, and now you won't even allow me to call you that! Am I not as special to you anymore?"

"You special to me, though! Do you think you would be my boyfriend if you weren't?" I asked, starting to get furious.

I'm assuming that my eyes were flooded with anger because his became engulfed with fear. For some reason this slightly amused. I mean, I'm really not all that scary. Sure, I had my moments occasionally, but I'm not scary or anything all the time like he was acting as if I was.

"Okay, okay! I was just joking!" he said half in laughter, half disguised with alarm and worry.

"Oh my gods. I'm honestly not that scary!"

"Umm, Annabeth, if you can say that and believe it then you need a reality check. You can be incredibly frightening. Occasionally, you can even be bloodcurdling."

"No!"

"Yes."

"Wrong."

"Just ask anyone else," he replied, keeping his cool.

"Fine," I said, going to find someone to settle this. I knew just who to go to as well.

After a minute of roaming the halls, we arrived at the auditorium. I went in search of a friend of ours from Technical Theatre, whom I knew would side with me. I found Will on the ladder, without somebody spotting him, which is super stupid to do.

"Shouldn't someone be holding the other side of the ladder on this unstable platform you set the ladder on, Will?" I asked him laughing and taking a hold of the ladder to steady it and spot him.

"Eh. Technically, yeah. But, when you've been doing this as long as I have, it's not that big of a deal anymore," he said, shrugging, and coming down off of the ladder.

"So what do you need?" he asked.

"Well, Percy here," I started, gesturing towards Percy, "thinks I'm scary. I'm not all that scary, am I?"

"Personally, I do not find you scary at all. Only at certain moments are you actually scary. When you want to be, you can be, but generally, no, you're not scary."

"I told you so!" I said, turning towards Percy. I mean, don't get me wrong, I love him with all I have, but I was not about to be wrong. No way.

"Well, technically, I said you can be. Not that you necessarily always are. So, technically we're both right."

"Fine," I mumbled.

"Come on, Anna. I have a surprise for you."

"Dammit. I was hoping we could skip that part of today. You know how much I hate surprises, and yet you still insist on having them for me."

"You'll love it. I promise."

"Fine," I said yet again.

He led me to our lockers… Which are on the other side of campus, sort of. When we got to our lockers, there was no surprise thank gods. But I guess I spoke, or thought for that matter, too soon.

We got to homeroom and there was the surprise. All of our friends were there, the classroom was decorated, and Thalia was standing there handing me a crown. This was going to be a really long day. I mean, it's only my eighteenth birthday. What the hell is the big deal?!

She forced the crown onto my head, despite my pleas for her to not place it upon my head. Then again, it's Thalia. When had she ever followed someone else's requests, wished, and / or pleas? Oh yeah, that's right, never. I sighed and accepted my fate for today. It was going to be a long as hell day.

After a special time of torture in homeroom, Percy and I made our way to English. Thankfully, though, we didn't do anything for my birthday. All we did was classwork, which made me probably the happiest person in the world. I mean, yeah, I got the occasional 'happy birthday' but it wasn't anything like the torture in homeroom.

I wish I could say the same for Physics, though, but unfortunately I can't. Mrs. Elder made a big deal about it (shocker, shocker) so naturally she had everybody sing 'happy birthday' despite my protests. I just kind of hid behind my book for it since I hated all of the attention this fucking crown was getting me. I will get back at Thalia for this one of these days. I promise her I will. Anyways, after the class sang 'happy birthday', we took our test on Chapter 15 and had time to free read after that. I was the first one done, so I had plenty of time to read.

Technical Theatre wasn't too bad. It was more like English was than Physics, thank gods. Just the occasional 'happy birthday' from some of the class and one from everybody on lighting and sound crew and that was it. It was nice. We focused on the work at hand, which I was really appreciative for. Call me crazy, but I do like to work.

Lunch was a totally different story, however. As Percy and I left the Auditorium for the cafeteria, I tried to slip away. Needless to say, it didn't work. Within a matter of seconds, he had his arms wrapped around my waist and he was dragging me back to him.

"And just where do you think you were going, Wise Girl?" he asked, smiling down at me.

"Anywhere that Thalia and all of them aren't," I said laughing, "I don't want to know what else you guys have planned! First it's this horrid crown, what's next?"

"Oh, come on! It's not that bad!"

"What's not that bad? The crown or what you guys have planned for me?"

"Eh. Both, I guess. But, we have a surprise for you tonight too! You'll love it, I promise. But, you have to come to lunch with us, if you want the surprise," he explained with a mischievous grin lain upon his face. I was honestly growing to hate that grin with a passion.

"You do realize that I hate surprises, right?"

"What? You don't trust me to surprise you without you getting pissed and / or scared out of your mind?"

"Sometimes, Perce. Sometimes…"

"Come on!" he said, literally dragging me with him.

Right before we got to the cafeteria, Percy covered my eyes with his hands claiming that it was a surprise and that if I looked, it would ruin the surprise. _Oh great, _I thought, _this is going to be horrible._ He led me through the cafeteria to where we normally sit.

He uncovered my eyes and I thought I was going to kill someone. It was very similar, if not the same, as homeroom. So naturally I did what anyone like me would do. I simply left.

"Guys, I appreciate the thought, I really do, but I don't like this type of stuff. It's seriously just a regular day, guys. I love you all, but, no. And you of everyone, Percy, should know that, or so I would think," I said walking towards the door.

I exited the cafeteria and went down near the woods. I wasn't angry per say, or even upset. But, I wasn't exactly happy either. I felt kind of suffocated, if anything. I mean, sure it was better than not feeling anything at all, but who's to say that even? All in all, I guess I didn't know how I felt. All I knew was I wasn't happy. I had to think for a while. After about ten minutes of sitting alone in the woods, a poem popped into my mind. I don't really know where it came from, but I was glad I had my notebooks with me so I could write it down. Once I was almost done writing it down and perfecting it to imperfection, Percy came along walking to me like he knew where I would be and was just giving me cool down time.

"Hey, Wise Girl."

"Hey."

"You okay now?"

"I don't know, Perce. I really just don't."

"Whoa. Annabeth Chase doesn't know something?" he asked in a mocking tone.

"Yeah, shocking, I know," I said laughing.

"What's wrong?"

"It's just, I hate parties, especially ones for me. You know that, Perce. It's suffocating, really. I didn't really want to celebrate, ya know?"

"Yeah, I know. That's why I did it, though."

"W-what?"

"Well, I wanted you to know that there are people here that are living and care about you and would like to be, well, ya know, living. Thalia, Nico, everyone else, and myself would really hate it if you were dead. Everyone needs to feel loved, Anna. This is our way of making sure you feel loved."

"Oh. Well, you didn't really need to go all out, ya know."

"Yeah I know. I did that really just to irritate you."

"Of course you did."

"So what was it that you were writing down right there?"

"Huh? Oh, nothing."

"Good, then you won't mind if I read it," he said, taking the notebook out of my hand and reading it aloud to the both of us, though I already know what was written. I mean, it was my poem for gods' sakes.

"Somewhere deep inside my soul

Is where I keep the monster

That consumes me as a whole.

And now that it is hissing,

Though I don't know why,

I realize something's missing

And I'm struggling to get by.

In my way is myself

And now I understand that to just get through the day

I need to pull myself away.

So now I have a choice:

In one hand is a friend

In the other is a knife.

So which will I choose?

To hang in there day by day,

Or to end my life?"

He stood there taking the whole thing in. After a minute he looked completely flabbergasted and astonished. I wasn't quite sure if it was good or bad, though. But that just goes to show you, never underestimate Perseus Jackson. He just went on and told me what he thought without a single thing being carefully processed in all probability.

"What the fuck is this? What does this mean?" he asked with a worrisome tone.

"Nothing," I sighed.

"Well, it obviously means something. Everything means something. Even the definition of nothing is something therefore making nothing something."

"Can you even follow what you just said right there?" I asked him, laughing.

"Not really, but I'm assuming you can."

"Lucky for you, your assumption is right. And, right now, at this very precise moment, I have no clue what it means. It just came to me, sorta. I felt the need to write it down, though, so yeah it's gotta mean something. I'll figure it out eventually."

He studied my face carefully before deciding upon the fact that I was lying. According to him, I am a terrible bluffer. I'll give that one to him, however because I am and always will be.

"You know what, Percy? Why don't you tell me what you think it means and I'll let you know if you are right or not?"

"Okay, well I think that you're saying that while you have fantastic friends, and let's not leave out the part about having the best boyfriend in the world, you feel that something is missing. You feel like that after all you've done, and despite the fact that it's all in the past and behind you now, that you are some sort of monster who doesn't deserve a second chance. You feel a void of happiness in your life despite all the good things you know you have. You love where you're at right now and don't want to regress to what you were and where you were a few months ago. Hell, even a few weeks ago. You don't know what's coming for you and you're scared of it, but that's okay, Annabeth. That's why Thalia, Nico, and I are all here for you no matter what. I can't speak for all of the others but I sure as hell can speak for them."

"So, if you really knew what it was about all along, why did you flip out about it a few minutes ago?"

"Because, it sort of scared me for a minute and I didn't want it to mean what I originally thought it meant. So are you saying I'm right, just out of morbid curiosity?"

"Yeah, you're right, mostly."

"Mostly?"

"Well, yeah. I mean, you covered most of it. You left out some things that I'm not even sure about so therefore you got it mostly right."

"Fair enough," he conceded.

I guess we hadn't realized how long we had been sitting in the woods arguing over this because the next thing we knew the bell was ringing meaning that we had to make our way to our last class of the day, which just so happened to be our favourite class: Latin.

When we got there, I had to accept the fact that we were having a party. I couldn't escape it this time. It was better than homeroom though. I don't really know why, but it was. If I had to make a bet on it, I would say it was because of Percy's explanation. We didn't do a lot of classwork, though we did some. It was mostly just chatting and eating junk food. For the first time in a few days, the other students weren't giving me weird looks about my arms or the letters or anything. I was trying to figure out if it was because of my birthday or because they just got used to it.

Before anyone knew it, the dismissal bell was ringing. Percy and I were the only ones that stayed to clean up. Even Mr. Brunner left! We cleaned up rather quickly since we had competitions on who could clean up the neatest the fastest. Of course, I won. But while Percy was still cleaning up, he struck up conversation.

"So, do you have plans for tonight?"

"Um, no. Why?"

"Well, you do now."

"Oh good gods, Percy. What did you plan this time?"

"We're going clubbing, duh!"

"We?"

"All of us, Annie. Me, you, Nico, Thals, Silena, Beckendorf, Rachel, everybody."

"All right. Fine. I'll actually go and have fun tonight."

"Finally!"

"Just one quick question."

"What?"

"Will there be alcohol?"

"Replacing one bad habit with another are we?"

"Ha-ha you're hilarious. No. I just find that sometimes parties are more fun with alcohol…"

"Yes," he sighed, "there will be alcohol."

"Awesome," I said smiling at him. _Tonight is definitely going to be fun_ I assured myself. And for once, I was actually right.

When we got back to the apartment, we started getting ready. And by 'we', I, of course, meant me. We didn't get home until five o'clock and we were leaving at seven thirty. I had time to get all girlied up so I decided upon straightening my unstraightenable hair, though it's really only unstraightenable when it's dried curly. I spent an hour and a half on my hair which seemed super unreasonable, but I had the time. I moved on to make up after my hair. I just stuck to the simple stuff. And by simple stuff, I mean strictly eye liner and mascara. I then had to decide what to wear, and who better to ask than the fashionista herself, Silena?

"Hello?" she asked as she picked up her cell phone.

"Hey Silena, It's Annabeth."

"Oh, hey Annie!"

"Call me that one more time and I swear to gods that I will rip all of the hair off your head, burn all of your clothes, and throw out all of your make up."

"You wouldn't."

"Do you really wanna test that?"

"No ma'am. So what's up?"

"I need your help deciding on an outfit for tonight."

"Oh, that's simple. Go into your closet and on the floor is a box. Happy birthday, Annabeth," she said and hung up.

I did as she said, found the box and set it on my bed. I stared at it for a minute before deciding to open it. I was amazed at what I pulled out. It was a skin tight, strapless silver dress that went down to the middle of my thighs and there was also a pair of silver espadrille heels. I put on the dress, but had to call Percy in to zip it up in the back since I have never been good at doing that nor will I ever be.

"Hey, Perce!"

"Yeah?"

"Come here."

"What?" he asked as he walked through the door, shirtless since he had just gotten out of the shower. His abs were glistening from the water and his hair was messy and wet.

"Can you zip up my dress?"

"I can, I don't want to, but I can," he said as he zipped it.

"Gods, I hope you meant that in a perverted way."

"What?" he laughed.

"Oh, shut up, you know what I mean."

"You know I do," he said winking.

That's when we both lost it. Next thing we knew we were making out like there was no tomorrow. Hell, like there was no tonight. We soon found our way to my bed and he lay down on top of me, our lips never separating from one another's. That is, until the doorbell rang.

"Ugh," we exclaimed simultaneously.

Since I was the only one who was fully dressed (after he zipped the dress back up…) I had to go answer the door. When I opened the door, I was surprised to see Nico, Thalia, and everyone else standing outside. Then I looked at the clock. Damn. Percy and I were making out for, like, half an hour. It was seven o'clock already.

"Hey!" the all exclaimed as they walked through the door. I could tell they were already pumped up and ready to go. I was expecting that. What I wasn't expecting was the tequila shots we took before Percy even came out of his room from putting on a shirt. He saw me taking a shot, which was my third, and started laughing.

"Jesus, Annabeth. Couldn't even wait until we got there to start taking shots, I see?"

"What can I say? I **love** me some tequila."

"Yeah, I can see that… How many shots have you had?"

"Well, this," I said rising up my now filled shot glass, "will be my fourth. I think."

"Nico, get the god damn tequila away from Annabeth. NOW."

Nico sighed and took the tequila bottle back.

"Chill, Percy. It's not like I've never had a drink before in my life. This is nothing."

"At least wait until we get to the club."

"Fine. But I will tell you now that I plan on getting absolutely fucking drunk."

"Yeah, and by the looks and sounds of it, you're already halfway there."

"Good," I smiled.

We all piled out of the door and went out to the parking lot. Thalia, Nico, and I all rode with Percy while Silena, Rachel, and Grover rode with Charlie. Clarisse and Chris rode together as well. Percy, however, made Nico give the tequila to someone else so I couldn't have anymore.

After about thirty minutes, we arrived at the club. Surprisingly, we didn't have to wait at all to get in. I guess there was some kind of telepathic communication between Percy and I because he immediately answered saying that he knew the owner. I shrugged. It didn't really matter to me.

We got in there and all of us, with the exception on Chris, Percy, and Beckendorf, started taking more shots again. We started off with tequila then moved on to vodka. I was completely shit faced by ten thirty. Despite being drunk, they all had me make a speech anyways. I didn't really get why, but I did it anyways.

"Well, you guys, I'm kind of drunk, but we'll give it a shot anyways. I came here a few months ago, looking for nothing but a place to stay. I went to you, Percy, because you were the only one I knew that would even consider taking me in. I came, running away from myself. I hated who I was. I got here and hadn't stopped anything I meant to. I guess you could say that I was addicted to cutting and taking pills. Anyways, I met you guys and felt kind of insecure and like an outcast. But, I soon started dating Luke. Possibly the biggest mistake of my life. But, if it wasn't for him, I wouldn't have tried to kill myself, I may not be standing here right now today, and I wouldn't have the best boyfriend and best friend in the whole world. I came here for one thing and I've finally found it. Happiness."


End file.
